


Prisongrumps

by Bloodyscrollox



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-15 07:21:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3438497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bloodyscrollox/pseuds/Bloodyscrollox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Game Grumps prison AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Danny wouldn’t exactly call himself a rule-breaker. Sure, he smoked weed for a good portion of his teenage life, and there are certain things he did during that time that he hopes his parents never find out about.

The business, though. That was something Dan thought he could be proud of. It was out in the open; his family and friends all knew about it, were proud of him, even. Dan Avidan, Small Business Owner. He’d been very flattered, if a little confused, when his old dorm-mate from college had suggested a down-on-his-luck Danny move to the other side of the country for a start-up trucking company, and then asked him to co-sign on the business. But, as Dan was to discover two years later in a Los Angeles courtroom, he had been chosen not so much for his business-savvy, or even his competence at truck-driving, but for his somewhat lax morals when tax season rolled around.

The money-laundering charges his lawyer was able to get dropped. After all, Danny had a whole backlog of texts proving that he’d only found out about it three months ago, and numerous texts since then begging his friend to drop his little side-business.

Unfortunately, there were also several texts proving Dan had handwaved some pretty extensive tax fraud.

‘Three years isn’t too bad, considering.’ his lawyer reassures him, shoving documents into his briefcase as the courtroom began to file out. ‘And in a federal prison, too. They went easy on you.’ Danny sits silently in the courtroom chair and tries to ignore the claustrophobic feeling of his tie and starched collar choking him.

*

He only has a week to get his shit together before he’s obligated to turn himself into the prison. It’s hard telling Avi not to bother coming over to California, but his parents would just have to turn back around soon as they came anyway, and honestly, Dan’s not sure he can handle a goodbye in person.

He catches a cab to the prison. It’s way too far to warrant one and stupid expensive as a result, but fuck it, what else is Dan gonna spend his money on for the next three years? Besides, with his business partner in another prison and the rest of his business buddies keeping their heads down, he’s kind of out of friends in this part of the country to drive him.

Inside the building, there are searches and forms and he has to hand over all the possessions he has on his person (the rest, he hopes, are in a package on the way to his parents) Everyone speaks harshly, and Dan feels like he’s back in elementary school. He has that same sick feeling he used to get when he got in trouble. He wonders if it’s gonna go away or if he’s going to be stuck with it for the next three years that he  _is_  in trouble.

He doesn’t register a word of his debriefing. He tries to, really hard. But he’s focusing too much on having to focus, and ends up missing the warden’s speech entirely. As the warden leaves, and Danny sits with the other men who are ready to assimilate into the prison population, he looks around at the guys he’s going in with. Some of them look like him; shit-scared. Others are tight-lipped and tattooed and Danny guesses this is not their first rodeo. He tries to catch someone’s eye; to have a little shared moment of  _shit, you too?_ , but everyone is focused on themselves, or else at the patch of floor between their feet for the feebler-looking first-timers.

He’s not aware of the numbers and names being called in the background. They blend into the general loud, frenzied ambiance of the prison setting. It’s not until he hears his own name that his head snaps up, and he realises that his three years start now.

‘Avidan! Follow me.’

*

It was in college that he and his friend got super high and watched the entire six seasons of Oz. Having been as stoned as he was, Danny had forgotten the majority of those hazy 3 days, and his clearest memories were of being woken with a start by the violent static of the HBO title card before each episode.

Since being sentenced, however, Danny has been getting flashes of memory here and there. And from what he can remember, a lot of guys got stabbed. He’s remembering scenes where eyes get gouged out, guys getting beaten with barbells. One memory of a guy getting his throat slashed with another guy’s fingernails, which he’s pretty sure is a false memory.

The guy waiting in the cell that he’s going to be spending the next three years in looks as if he’s stepped right off the set, and Dan has to remind himself that this is real life and people aren’t going to act a certain way just because they look the part.

Swallowing his nervousness, Dan steps forward and offers his hand.

'Dan Avidan.' he says by way of introduction. The guy eyes his hand suspiciously before nodding at him, his own hand staying at his side.

'Myrtle Siegler. Avidan, huh? That's an interesting name. Where's it from?'

'Israel.' Dan replies.

'Israel?' Myrtle repeats. 'You Jewish or something?'

'Oh yeah.' Dan confirms. 'Big ol' Jew.'

'That so?' says Myrtle, a hint of a smile playing across his lips.

‘And what about you, where are you from?’ Dan asks, turning to set down his few toiletries and pack his changes of underwear in the little locker in the corner of the room.

‘Red-blooded American, baby.’ Siegler says, patting his chest proudly. ‘Born and raised in Iowa. Small town.’

‘Oh, nice.’ and honestly, Dan’s about to give Myrtle his entire backstory, going back through his past to his childhood and probably to the story of his parents meeting, he’s so desperate to connect with someone, to earn some sort of familiarity in this strange, foreign place.

But at that moment an intercom crackles into life and informs them that it’s lunchtime.

‘I’ll see you tonight,  _Avidan_.’ Siegler says, putting direct emphasis on his name. Dan gives a little wave to Myrtle’s retreating back as he leaves the cell, not sure if his tone of voice should make him nervous or not.

He takes a little while longer to make sure all his underwear is neatly folded and stowed before he makes his way to the cafeteria. Immediately upon walking in, he realises his mistake, as even with the wide expanse of the cafeteria, Danny’s barely in the door before he reaches the line, it stretches that far back. The line is relatively efficient, but Dan’s still got a wait ahead of him.

‘Fuck!’ Danny jumps as he hears the loud expletive right over his shoulder. Nervously, he turns his head minutely so he can check out the situation in his periphery. The good news is, it’s just one man. Danny was a little worried he was about to find himself embroiled in a prison brawl. He cranes his neck a little farther to see a tall, angry-looking man with chin-length hair that seems oddly out-of-place in the sea of cropped hair cuts. Then again, Dan can’t exactly fault him for that, looking the way he does. Even more out-of-place is the single streak of blond framing his jaw. Pursing his lips, the guys eyes fall on him.

‘Fuck are you looking at?’ he demands.

‘Sorry.’ Dan mumbles, turning back to the line.

The man sighs impatiently. ‘Fucking bullshit cellmate letting me nap through the lunch call.’

Danny’s made a strict deal with himself to stay as far under the radar as possible, which means interacting with as few people as he can. But something about the man’s tone, about the way he’s talking to himself, but loudly enough for Dan to hear him, makes him feel like this is an invitation for a conversation, which is probably the friendliest someone’s been to him since he met his public defender before the trial. Fuck it, maybe this is the guy he’ll make a connection with?

‘That sucks, man. I’d let you go in front of me, but it just means you’ll be waiting three hours and 59 minutes instead of four.’ he jokes.

‘Hey, thanks man.’ the guy responds, and Dan frowns as he actually steps out of line and goes to stand in front of him. ‘I’m Arin, by the way.’ he says, turning back and offering Danny his hand.

‘Dan.’ he replies, shaking it.

‘Cool, cool. You new here? I don’t recognise you, and I heard we were getting some newbies today.’

‘Uh, yeah. I’m new.’

Arin scratches his beard and scrutinises him with not even a hint of subtlety. ‘You don’t seem like a gang type.’ he muses.

‘I’m not.’ Dan agrees.

‘You’re gonna need friends.’ Arin insists. ‘You got friends in here?’

‘Not  _yet_.’ Dan says hopefully.

Arin squints at him for a long moment. ‘You on heroin?’

‘What? No!’

‘You gonna get into heroin while you’re in here?’

‘I… I hope not.’

Arin nods slowly. ‘You in for anything violent? Anything sex crimes?’

‘Tax fraud.’ Dan supplies faintly, hoping he’s being asked these questions for the right reasons.

‘You like playing video games?’

‘I- uh…’ Danny’s caught off-guard by the sudden about-turn Arin’s little interrogation has taken. ‘Yeah, I like video games. I don’t play them as much anymore, but I used to play a shitload in college, and when I was a kid.’

Arin’s face brightens. ‘Oh nice, man! You can stick around me while you get settled. Video games are kind of my thing, I like hanging around people who actually know what the fuck I’m talking about.’

They’re slowly shuffling through the cafeteria as the line moves forward, and as Dan passes by a sea of hostile faces, Arin’s declaration of their tentative friendship couldn’t have come at a better time.

Question time continues, and Arin barrages him with various queries about his past life, his offence, his love life. By the time Arin reaches the pile of trays, it’s like they’ve known each other for years. They already have an in-joke.

‘So, is it like… violent in here?’ Dan asks as they move down the line.

‘Fuck yeah, pasta.’ Arin mutters as the food is slopped into a bowl and handed over to him. ‘I mean, it can get a little… It’s only medium security, but I’ve seen some shit, you know?’

Dan nods thoughtfully, pausing to thank his server as he’s passed his own food.

Arin turns to leave the line and accidentally whacks his tray into a guy standing behind him, knocking his pasta off so it lands with a  _splat_  right by the guy’s feet. It was, for the most part, a narrow miss, but there are some flecks of red sauce on the guy’s shoes. He leans down, inspects the damage, then looks back up at Arin. Danny gulps. He remembers enough of Oz to know Arin’s probably about to get knifed.

'Sorry, man.' Arin says quickly, ducking to scoop up the worst of the damage. The guy sucks his teeth, but says nothing, and after a moment, wanders off. Dan breathes a sigh of relief.

'Holy shit, I thought that was gonna end badly.'

Arin straightens up, depositing the bowl of soiled pasta back on his tray. ‘Nah, he knows not to start anything with me. I run this prison.’ He says casually.

'Really?' Dan says in awe. Arin doesn't exactly look like the type to run anything more intense than a LAN party, but then Danny's still a newbie to prison. Maybe Arin's a criminal mastermind; maybe he has a whole network of inmate minions doing his dirty work in the prison.

Arin looks at him askance, with an expression Dan can’t quite place. ‘Yeah, that’s me. They know my history, why I’m in here, so they leave me alone.’

'What  _is_  your history?’ Danny asks, trying not to sound too eager.

Arin smirks. ‘I’ll tell you sometime. It’s a hell of a story.’

*

They sit at a table with a short, bearded dude with a friendly smile.

‘Dan, Barry; my cellmate. Barry, Dan; newbie.’ Arin says by way of introduction. Dan and Barry wave at each other.

‘Barry’s Jewish, too.’ Arin remarks, leaning across the table to grab a forkful of Barry’s pasta. Barry rolls his eyes good-naturedly.

‘That’s weird, I haven’t seen you at the meetings.’ Dan says sarcastically, and Barry grins at him.

‘So, how have your first few days been?’ he asks. Dan shrugs, unwilling to go into how fraught he’s been having to transition into captivity.

‘It’s been fine.’

‘Who are you bunking with?’

‘Uh… he had kind of a weird name. Myrtle? Something.’

There’s a silence, and Arin and Barry are staring at each other, wide-eyed.

‘Tattoos?’ Barry asks quietly.

‘Uh, yeah. What?’ Danny asks, looking between them for an answer.

Arin takes a deep breath, and turns in his seat so he’s facing Dan. ‘Daniel.’ he says, gently. ‘In this institution, there is a diverse range of people. Now, that can be a good thing, being out of your comfort zone, getting to interact with-’

‘He’s a neo-Nazi.’ Barry says bluntly. Arin glares at him.

‘I was getting to that, Barry.’

‘Wait, what?’ Dan says, his breathing starting to get quicker.

‘Yeah, there are Aryan Brotherhood assholes in this prison.’ Arin says, shrugging. He nods over Dan’s shoulder, and he turns to see Myrtle a few tables down, sitting with a group of men who are, now that Arin mentions it, all very white. ‘It sucks, but as long as you can ignore them-’

‘I have to share a cell with a goddamn Nazi?’ Dan says, anguished. God, why has he only just noticed how bald Myrtle’s head is?

‘Does he know you’re Jewish?’ Barry asks.

‘Yes, dude! I used the words “I’m a huge Jew”, he  _definitely_  knows.’

‘Little tip: don’t say that again in here. Just in case.’ Barry suggests.

‘What’s he gonna do to me?’ Dan asks faintly. Arin and Barry share a look, and Arin sighs.

‘I’ll talk to CO Conrad when I’ve finished eating.’

*

Arin leads him up a walkway to the upper level of cells, where there’s a pretty young woman in a guard’s uniform.

‘Officer Conrad, what a surprise!’ Arin exclaims as they walk up to her.

‘Get lost Hanson, this is rec time. Get reccing.’ she says, glancing at Arin with a look of utter disdain.’

‘You realise you’re the prettiest CO in here, don’t you?’ Arin says, his voice sugary. ‘Not to mention the toughest.’

‘For the last time, Hanson, I am not letting you on my DS.’

‘This isn’t about that. Also I told you, you’re welcome to smuggle me in one instead. I won’t tell.’ Arin adds, grinning saucily.

‘No to that and no to whatever you’re about to say.’ Conrad says, shutting him down.

Arin sighs and drops the voice, talking to her normally. ‘Listen, Avidan here needs a favor, urgently. They stuck him in with Siegler Heil, and they’re not exactly ideal bunkmates.’ he says pointedly. ‘I need to move him into Ross O’Donovan’s cell.’

‘What’s in it for me?’ Conrad asks, folding her arms as she surveys the inmates from her station.

‘You won’t have a newbie’s death on your hands.’ Arin says. Dan jumps, alarmed at the words.

She scoffs and briefly unfolds her arms to waggle her fingers in front of her. ‘My hands are clean. You can do better.’

Arin sighs. ‘Look, I’ll talk to Kramer, see if he can’t move into Ross’ cell, and Avidan can bunk with me. Better?’

‘Why can’t  _you_  move into Siegler’s cell. You’re white.’

‘No, because then he’ll try and induct  _me_  into the Brotherhood. I’m not shaving my luscious head of hair for anyone.’ Arin says, flicking his (admittedly pretty shiny) hair in statement.

‘Sweeten the deal, Hanson.’ she says, her eyes still on the inmates below them.

Arin sighs. ‘Fine. I know a guy, he owns birds. He has a huge-ass aviary that he’s looking to get rid of; I’ll see if I can’t get him to give it up for free. Maybe you can finally get some birds of your own.’

Conrad chews her lip for a moment, thinking it over.

‘And,’ Arin adds. ‘I’ll keep quiet about the thing you think I don’t know about, but that I  _absolutely_  do.’

For the first time since they approached her, Conrad looks straight at Arin.

‘ _That motherfucker_.’ she mutters under her breath. ‘Fine. Avidan in your room, Kramer in with R- in with O’Donovan.’

Arin smiles sweetly at her. ‘And when I get out of here, I’ll leave you the _best_  performance review you’ve had in your employment history.’

‘Get out of here, Hanson. I said yes.’

*

Arin fetches his shit for him, darting in and out of the cell while Siegler’s still eating with the rest of the Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, Dan sits perched on the locker in his new cell while Barry gathers the rest of his things up.

‘Hey, thanks for this, man.’ Danny says.

‘It’s fine.’ Barry replies. ‘You seem like a cool dude, I’d hate to see you get- It’s worth it to know you’ll be safe. Also you and Arin owe me  _big_  time now. A little tip for while you’re incarcerated: out of all the currency in prison, favors are the most valuable.’’

‘Do you think he’ll leave me alone, though? Siegler?’

Barry pauses from shoving his stuff into a pillowcase. ‘Just… try to stay out of his way for the first few weeks. I don’t think you made too much of an impression, and luckily the Brotherhood’s pretty hard to miss.’

Arin appears at the door of the cell, CO Conrad over his shoulder. She beckons to Barry.

‘Kramer, you’re with me. Hanson, you’re in charge of the cell staying clean, make sure Avidan contributes to that.’

‘Yes ma’am.’ Arin replies.

Barry gathers up his stuff, and nods his goodbye to Dan. ‘Breakfast tomorrow.’ he says to Arin, who nods and claps him on the back.

‘Say hi to Ross for me.’

Barry is led away, and suddenly it’s just Dan and Arin, alone in their cell. Danny hopes he hasn’t made the wrong decision. Then again, he can’t do much worse than bunking with a man who celebrates the genocide of his people, so Arin’s gonna have to pull out all the stops if he wants to made Danny regret his move.

‘First things first,’ Arin says slowly, his voice firm. ‘I get the top bunk. Barry couldn’t sleep on the bottom because he was claustrophobic, but you won’t have that problem, will you,  _Dan_?’ Arin says pointedly.

‘Uh, no. That’s fine, man! I’m happy to sleep on the bottom.’ Danny says enthusiastically.

‘Damn straight.’ Arin says, puffing out his chest and flopping onto the bottom bunk anyway. ‘I’m not sleeping here, just chilling out.’ he clarifies.

Danny leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he says quietly. ‘So, you said you were gonna tell me the story of how you got in here?’

‘I guess I did, didn’t I?’ Arin grins and leans back, his back against the wall of the cell. ‘I got involved in some pretty heavy shit. Have you heard of the Yakuza?’

‘Uh-’

Danny doesn’t get time to tell Arin he probably hasn’t, because Arin continues anyway. ‘They’re like the Japanese mafia. ‘Cause I can speak fluent Japanese, right? So I get involved with them, there’s some huge score to settle with this big-time drug cartel. And they’re mean motherfuckers, man. So I get friendly with this guy, and we decide  _fuck it_ , go big or go home. Mutually Assured Destruction, right? Have them murder each other and climb out of the ruins on top. We were gonna be so rich, man. So we orchestrate this whole plan where he’ll kill the brother of the head of the Yakuza.’

‘Holy shit.’

Arin nods. ‘I know, man. But we’ll frame it on the cartel, see? The Yakuza will seek revenge on the cartel, they go to war, and my partner and I walk out unscathed. Anyway, my guy carries it out, execution style,  _pow_!’ Arin points his fingers into a gun and shoots an invisible target. ‘And the frame-job goes perfectly, the leader’s all set to go to war with the cartel…’

Dan leans forward, his eyes so wide they’re starting to strain. ‘Then what?’

‘Turns out the guy I made the plan with? Undercover cop. He books me, pockets all my drug money, tells the Yakuza I did the murder, and the cartel that I tried to frame them. It’s just as well I’m in here, man,’ Arin finishes, staring off into the distance, ‘because the second I get out, I’m a dead man.’

‘That’s  _insane_.’

Arin shrugs. ‘In a way, it’s nice to be out of it all. Life in prison is just so _relaxed_ , you know?’ Dan doesn’t, and ‘relaxed’ is the last word he’d use to describe himself in his new surroundings. ‘But tax fraud, huh? That’s gotta suck too.’

Dan swallows. This feels like that time in 5th grade where everyone in the class had spent their summer in cool places like Orlando and Toronto and even Venice, and Dan had awkwardly countered his friends’ amazing vacation stories with his family’s trip to Staten Island.

Either way, his first night in prison, and he’s already made two friends and probably avoided a shanking from his previous cellmate. That’s gotta count for something, right?


	2. Chapter Two

‘O’Donovan! Meet Kramer, he’s your new cellmate.’ Correctional Officer Conrad bangs on the bars of Barry’s new cell. Barry likes her, she’s cute and spunky, and sometimes wears little badges with birds on them. She dyes her hair a different color every two weeks, and sometimes he and Arin bet postage stamps on which color she’ll dye it next. At the moment it’s faded from a very pretty lavender to a sort of silvery-pink color. Holly (her first name, which Barry is  _not_  allowed to use in the presence of other inmates) confirms one afternoon when he compliments it that she dyed it to match her Animal Crossing avatar, but that she likes the faded color a lot more.

Today though, she’s all business, and Barry’s been frogmarched from his shared cell with Arin to his new one without so much as a smile.

Woken from his sleep, the man inside the cell jumps, scrubs his face and rolls out of the bunk, before apparently processing the words and angrily approaching the door of the cell. Barry recognises Ross, he’s seen him talking to Arin a few times. Australian, apparently, but the accent is usually near-undetectable. Although as Barry’s about to learn, it is stronger during outbursts of emotion.

‘What the fuck? I don’t have a cellmate, this is my cell!’

‘Oh I’m sorry sir, let me talk to my supervisor right away and we’ll get you into a private suite.’ Holly shoots back sarcastically. Ross glares at her, then glares at Barry.

‘So what, you’re shackling me with a newbie? I’m not babysitting.’

‘Calm down, O’Donovan, Kramer’s been here longer than you have. But he’s very kindly given up his place with Hanson so that  _he_  can babysit a newbie.’

Ross does seem noticeably calmer when Arin’s name is mentioned, but he eyes Barry up suspiciously.

‘You’re friends with Arin?’

Barry nods. ‘He says hi. Sorry about this, man.’ he says, as placatingly as he can muster.

‘Well look, I’m really sorry, but I don’t do cellmates. I need my privacy.’ Ross says, shrugging apologetically, and shooting a look to Holly that Barry can’t quite place.

Holly, unswayed, unlocks the cell door and slides it open, nudging Barry inside. ‘Nice try.’

‘Hol- CO!’ Ross protests, pleadingly. Barry stands awkwardly for a moment while Holly and Ross stare each other down on either side of the barred door.

‘Quit your bitching, O’Donovan, or I’ll move you three cells down and you can share with the guy who only showers once a month.’ Holly starts to march away as Ross turns on Barry with fire in his eyes. He jumps out of his murderous reverie when Holly’s baton clangs loudly against the cell bars. ‘And play nice!’

*

As it happens, Barry and Ross get on pretty well. Ross is an absolute shit-stirrer (a delightful phrase Barry learned from the man himself), and somehow manages double pudding at dinner by heavily implying that some other inmate has been complaining about the food. Ross gets that guy’s pudding, and covers himself from any possible consequences by saluting smartly and adding a ‘Travis Grady, at your service’ as he leaves the dinner line.

‘Who’s Travis Grady?’ Barry mutters to him as they seat themselves.

‘Silent Hill character. With any luck they’ll be blindsided by the name and suspect one of the Irish guys. And good luck pointing me out in a crowd, I’m generic as hell.’ Ross says, cackling as he stabs his fork into his mashed potatoes.

The other enchanting thing about Ross is how skilled he is at pushing Dan and Arin’s buttons. Ross begins to sit with Arin, Dan and Barry during mealtimes, which Barry starts to privately refer to as ‘dinner and a show’, as it takes roughly 5 minutes for Ross to reduce Arin to a screaming mess and Danny to move down the other end of the table. 10 minutes if he’s feeling generous. Barry is less susceptible to Ross’ techniques, being as mild-mannered as he is, but he’s always happy to play along, much to Ross’ delight.

However, the camaraderie seems to end at lights out, and Ross turns sullen and resentful of Barry’s presence, ignoring his well-intentioned ‘goodnight’s and refusing to meet Barry’s eye when he climbs into his bunk. After the fifth night of Ross tutting and huffing every time Barry so much as shifts in the top bunk, he finally decides to address the tension.

‘Look man, am I getting in your way or something? If you want to jack off in private or something, that’s fine. I have earplugs.’ There’s silence from the bottom bunk for a while, and Barry rolls over, glaring at the wall.

Finally Ross speaks. ‘What do you think of Officer Conrad?’ His tone is far milder than Barry expected, and Ross almost sounds like he does during the day.

‘I like her.’ Barry replies, wondering where this conversation is going.

‘Do you think she’s hot?’

_Oh God_ , thinks Barry. He’s never been great at the whole ‘watch porn with your bros’ culture. Call him old-fashioned, but sexual fantasies should be private, not a collaborative effort. For all the mortifying things he witnessed with his old cellmate, Arin at least had the grace to _try_  and hide that part of himself.

‘I think she’s…’ Barry pauses. The only word he can come up with to describe Holly on the fly is  _cutie-patootie_ , and as chill as he and Ross have been, he’s still pretty sure that answer would result in Ross beating the snot out of him. Which he couldn’t be entirely blamed for. ‘Yeah, she’s hot.’

Another pause, and suddenly the bedframe is rocking as Ross hauls himself up the ladder, his head poking up at the foot of Barry’s mattress.

‘Can you keep a secret?’

Barry raises himself onto his elbows and nods. ‘My nickname in high school was ‘The Crypt-Keeper’.’ he clarifies. He really is good at keeping secrets. He heard his high school Geometry teacher got married last year, and Barry’s pretty sure he’s still the only one who knows he’s gay.

‘Ok, and you _really_  can’t tell anyone about this, but Officer Conrad and I have been… using the cell for conjugals. If you get my drift.’

Barry does, as that was more of a dump than a drift. He’s a little surprised, honestly. He could definitely sense something between them, but he assumed it was mostly one-sided. The fact that Ross actually succeeded in seducing Holly… well, wonders never cease.

‘Huh. So you’ve been schtupping a prison guard?’

‘More like screwing a screw.’ Ross retorts, chuckling heartily at his own joke. Barry joins in too, a little less enthusiastic. ‘But seriously, keep your mouth shut.’ Ross says, dissipating the laughter. ‘Do  _not_  tell Arin. Also I’m gonna try and get her in here tonight, so pretend to be asleep.’

*

Twenty minutes later, Barry hears Holly’s footsteps, considerably lighter than the overweight,  6-foot prison guard who has the shift before her. The bed rocks as Ross jumps out of bed, and Barry has to strain his ears to pick up the soft whispers.

‘Hey, baby.’ Ross coos.

‘O’Donovan, I’ll thank you to address me with a little more respect.’ A pair of faint metal scrapes as the door is slid open and shut again.

‘Officer baby?’

‘Ross, stop.’

A soft chuckle. ‘I miss you.’

‘You miss having sex with me. You still see me 5 days out of the week.’

‘It’s not the same when I can’t kiss you, and touch you, and…’ Barry misses the end of his sentence as Ross trails it into the softest murmur, but he’s not too devastated, honestly.

‘Ross, we made out for half an hour behind the cafeteria yesterday.’

Ross sighs. ‘Fine. Then yeah, I miss making love to you. But hey,’ his voice takes on a disturbingly seductive tone. ‘Did you know that Kramer here has remarkably bad hearing?’

_If only._

‘It’s bad enough I’ve had to have sex in a bunk bed, I’m not doing it with an audience.’

‘He’s asleep!’ Ross protests.

For a second, there’s silence. Then, the bed gives a violent shake, and Barry’s eyes shoot open in alarm to find himself face to face with Holly, who’s hanging off the bedframe with her feet planted on the lower bunk.

‘He doesn’t look very asleep to me.’ she drawls, raising her eyebrow.

Barry closes his eyes and snores loudly. ‘Oh man, I can’t believe how asleep I am right now. So sleepy.’ he mumbles, hoping that if he’s funny, Holly won’t throw him into solitary as payback for his accidental cockblocking.

‘Sorry, O’Donovan, but you’re gonna have to make do with heavy petting and smooches from now on.’  _Smooches_? She really is a cutie.

Ross makes a pained noise. Barry has a sudden thought, and sits up.

‘I’ll tell you what.’ he begins, addressing the two. ‘I’ll rent the cell out to you. Once a week.’ He thinks for a moment. ‘Twenty stamps a week and a pint of the butter pecan ice cream from commissary, and I’ll spend a night with unwashed guy.’

There’s a pause, and Ross and Holly glance at each other, weighing up the option. ‘Are you building a stamp collection or something?’ Ross says finally.

‘Barter stamps. I’m gonna trade them in for an MP3 player.’ he explains.

Holly nods slowly. ‘Ross?’

‘Yeah, sure. Fine.’ Ross says hurriedly. ‘Thanks buddy.’ He grins at Barry.

Barry makes finger guns back at him. ‘No problem. Now please, if you’re going to do anything unsavoury, please do it quietly. I want to sleep.’

And with that, Barry turns back to the wall, feeling warmed by his own good gesture, and optimistic about his friendship with Ross and Holly.

Four days later, he comes to learn that twenty stamps and a measly pint of off-brand ice-cream is an absolute  _bargain_  for the stench he has to put up with.

*

‘Fuck you Ross! There is no such thing as a fucking ‘Golden Gaytime’!’ Arin yells across the table.

Ross shrugs. ‘It’s ice-cream. Delicious ice-cream.’

‘I don’t fucking believe you. There is no way someone thought that up and allowed the slogan… what was it?’

‘“It’s hard to have a Gaytime on your own.”’

‘They would never allow that on TV!’

‘Sorry, mate? How many years did you live in Australia?’ Ross leans forward, cupping his hand around his ear. ‘What’s that? None?’

‘I know how fucking codes and practices work.’

‘Ok, Google it then. Oh wait, you  _can’t_. Because we’re in prison.’

Dan sighs. He has a headache. Its name is Ross O’Donovan.

Barry provides a welcome distraction by socking him in the back of the head with his shoe. It’s only canvas, and Danny has enough hair to provide ample padding, so it doesn’t hurt, but there’s a sharp ‘Kramer!’ from the guard on duty. Dan picks up the shoe and raises a pacifying hand to the officer, leaving Ross and Arin to their squabble as he crosses the room to where Barry’s standing with the mail trolley.

‘Thanks for that.’

Barry laughs, his eyes crinkling at the corners. ‘Sorry, man. But believe me, you don’t wanna be around Arin during mail call. Nosy asshole.’

‘I got something?’ Danny says, his heart beginning to thump. He rings his parents pretty regularly, so he’s not sure why the letter would be from them. As for his friends in California, he can’t imagine any of them sending him a letter after he testified against them in court. Unless it’s a threatening letter. Actually, considering that they’re also in prison, it’s pretty likely that it is.

Barry holds his hand out, gesturing for his shoe back. Danny hands it over, and in return is passed an open envelope.

‘Did you read this?’ he asks Barry.

Barry shrugs apologetically. ‘All mail gets opened, we have to make sure there’s not contraband hidden in there.’

‘But did you read it?’

‘Not me. Another guy in the mailroom scanned it, but we don’t read them properly. Just enough to make sure there’s not any mention of illegal activity. That sort of stuff.’

Danny sighs. ‘I guess I gave up my right to privacy with the tax fraud, huh? Thanks, Barry.’ Barry tuts sympathetically, then picks up another envelope, scanning the name on the front and looking around the room for the recipient. Dan turns back to the table where Ross and Arin are still arguing passionately. From the shit-eating grin on Ross’ face, it looks like he’s winning, and Arin looks near apoplectic. Tucking the envelope into the waistband of his prison scrubs, Danny leaves the rec room, heading towards he and Arin’s cell.

*

It’s not from his California people. It’s from Brian, and Danny chokes up as soon as he catches the signature at the bottom. Even the writing itself is shockingly familiar, the tight, angular scrawl that littered the margins of their countless songwriting notebooks back when they were trying to start that comedy band a few years ago. He ducks into his bunk, fluffing his pillow so that the angle isn’t so hard on his neck. Swallowing hard, Danny reads through.

_Daniel,_

_I got an email from your father, telling me about what happened. By the time this letter gets to you from London, you’ll probably have been incarcerated for a few weeks now. Hopefully you’re settled in, and haven’t been shanked yet._

_First of all, let me just say this:_

_You’re a fucking idiot._

Danny lets out a bark of surprised laughter. Trust Brian to be about as sympathetic as a pile of laundry.

_Seriously, tax fraud? Of all the things you could have been sent to prison for, you chose tax fraud?!_

_To drive home just how much of a dumbass you are, I have included a list of jailable offenses that are equally as fatuous as tax fraud._

  * _Possession of a bald eagle egg_
  * _Sawing off a shotgun barrel half an inch below the 18” legal length_
  * _Committing adultery in Idaho, Minnesota or Michigan_
  * _Taunting a police dog_



_Really, Danny? You could have gone interstate and banged a married woman for the same result, but instead you chose tax fraud, the dullest crime on the books._

Danny can only huff out a laugh in agreement. What follows is a paragraph on Brian’s life, updates on Rachel and lecturing and London. It reads like one of Brian’s emails when they haven’t talked for a while, refreshingly normal. Which he’s immensely grateful for, especially considering that Dan hadn’t replied to last three emails Brian had sent to him. He feels guilty about that, and as a result, this is the first contact he’s had with Brian in months.

_More than anything, I guess I’m pissed you didn’t tell me about the business. I’ve looked back through all the emails, racked my brains to try and remember any hints you might have dropped about what was going on behind the scenes. But you gave me nothing, Dan. If you’d just opened up to me a little, forgiven me for moving away and talked to me properly, I could have told you that those people weren’t your friends. And then maybe you wouldn’t be locked up 5000 miles away where we’re only going to drift further apart._

Dan has to put the letter down here. It’s a lot to take in, mostly because it’s the first time Brian’s been that upfront with him about his sudden lack of communication. He’s sort of right, and Danny’s mortified that his petulance was obvious enough that Brian noticed. But he’s wrong about the why, and he feels guilty about that too. Guilty for Brian thinking it was his fault for moving away, when it’s been Danny and his stupid fucking feelings all along.

The thing is, certain complications arose with his friendship with Brian. And because Dan is actually a preteen boy masquerading as a grown man, his response to said complications were to ignore them for as long as possible and act like a sullen manchild in the meantime. Eventually, he’d had to confront those feelings head-on, but he’d still hung on to a trace of bitterness. Not for Brian choosing London over him, but for choosing Rachel. Which was always ridiculous; Rachel and Brian had been married as long as Dan had known them. But some small, irrational part of Dan had hoped that once he’d sorted out his feelings that Brian would telepathically pick up on them, and then what? Leave his wife, leave his job, fly back across the world? For  _Danny_? It isn’t something he’s consciously thought out, and seeing it laid out on paper, all his failings as a friend… For the first time, Danny feels like he’s exactly where he deserves to be.

_I hope you get back in touch. For all I know, you’re top dog in the prison and have a whole gang beneath you, but it’s very possible that you’re getting sort of lonely in California and could do with another friend, even if he is 5000 miles away. I can regale you with stories of my dumbass physics students with their stupid British accents and in return you can serve as a cautionary tale the next time I daydream about stealing from the science lab and selling the equipment for a summer home in the south of France. I looked it up, and you definitely can’t use Twitter in prison, which seems as good a reason as any to not commit grand larceny._

_Brian_

_PS: Or at least not get caught_

Below the postscript is another, in larger, loopy handwriting.

_PPS: You’re an idiot but we love you anyway - Rachel_

Dan smiles fondly. Despite everything, he’s never held anything against Rachel. Not that it was Brian’s fault that Dan got a big, stupid complicated crush on him, but it especially wasn’t Rachel’s that he fell in love with her husband.

He reads it again, forcing himself to read over the hard paragraph until it gets easier, and he can finally read the letter all the way through without getting a lump in his throat. He reads it over and over, carefully formulating his reply in his head; long, heartfelt apologies which are scratched out and mentally rewritten.

He’s not sure how long he’s been in the cell, staring at the pages when Arin enters.

‘What’s that?’ he demands immediately. Dan drops it, flattening the paper to his chest.

‘A letter. From a friend.’ he says, evasively.

‘What friend?’

‘Jesus, you _are_  nosy.’ Dan mutters, picking up the letter and folding it back into the envelope.

‘I’m just asking!’ Arin protests, obviously still in argument mode from his rec time with Ross.

Dan sighs. ‘A friend from when I was living in New York; Brian. He lives in London now.’

‘Ooh, fancy.’ Arin says, only half-listening as he hauls himself onto the top bunk.

‘I didn’t really expect to hear from him.’ Danny says after a moment. ‘It’s kind of surprising.’

‘Good surprise or bad surprise?’

‘Good surprise. Kind of.’ It slips out before Danny realises that potentially coming out to his prison cellmate probably isn’t wise. He isn’t even sure what he’d come out as, but he doubts it would end well whichever way he did.

‘Kind of?’

‘Just- you know, we haven’t talked in a while. I didn’t think we were still- well, we’re still friends, nothing exactly  _happened_ , it was just…’ Danny can hear himself babbling in an effort to change the subject, and if anything he’s only aroused more suspicion around the subject of his friendship with Brian.

‘Go on?’ Arin says slowly.

‘It’s nothing, man. Drop it.’

Arin scoffs, the bed creaking as he adjusts his position. ‘Obviously it’s not nothing. Come on, there’s still an hour ‘til dinner and Barry doesn’t finish mail duty for at least another half hour. I can’t go back to Ross because I might actually strangle him if I do, so it’s up to you to entertain me with whatever sordid history you have with this guy.’

‘It’s not sordid!’ Danny argues, ignoring the fact that it  _is_  a little sordid. ‘He just- He made some changes in his life, those changes didn’t include me, and I acted like a brat about it. He’s mature enough to forgive me for that, end of story.’

‘What changes?’ Arin presses.

‘God! None of your fucking business!’ Danny says, exasperated.

‘Fair enough, but what changes?’

Danny rolls his eyes. ‘Moving to the other side of the world for his job. Having a wife. Normal shit for a 40 year-old man.’

‘Holy shit, you’re 40? I guessed you were a bit older than me, but you actually look really good for 40.’

‘Fuck off dude, I’m 35!’ Dan says, laughing indignantly. ‘He’s older than me.’

‘And more mature?’

‘Evidently.’ Dan sighs.

‘Hey man, at least you have someone who cares about you enough to send you jail mail from the other side of the world. I have friends who I haven’t heard from since I got in here, and they only live a few towns over.’ Arin sounds bitter. Bitter and sad.

‘But you’ve got friends in here, right? Ross and Barry. And me.’ Dan adds, hoping he’s not being presumptuous.

He can hear Arin chuckle above him. ‘Damn straight.’

There’s silence for a while, both men just reclining in their bunks. Dan fingers the envelope in his hands and goes back to planning out his reply to Brian. He’ll pick up some paper from commissary tomorrow. Make some easy bets with Ross, because he’s gonna need a lot of postage stamps to get all the way to England.

‘Listen,’ Arin says finally, breaking the extended silence. ‘This Brian guy, he loves his wife, right? But it doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you. You can love people in different ways, right? And just because he chose her- or chose London, over you, it doesn’t mean it was an easy decision.’ A pause. ‘Just my two cents.’

Danny doesn’t know what to say to that, and so he says nothing.

‘I’m gonna go pester Barry until his shift’s up.’ Arin says, a moment later. He hops off the bunk and leaves Danny in the cell to spend the next 50 minutes thinking hard about the implications of what was just said.


	3. Chapter Three

Ross feels bad for what he’s about to do. Danny’s still relatively new to the prison, he’s still finding his way, and this is going to humiliate him pretty bad.

But here’s the thing.

Ross caught a whiff of Holly as he passed her into the cafeteria, and get this - she’s wearing the same perfume Ross once said he liked on her. She hasn’t worn it for weeks, and that’s a green light if ever he saw one. So he feels bad for Danny, but not nearly bad enough that he’s about to deprive himself of this opportunity for the sake of their budding friendship.

‘Hey, Dan?’

Danny turns his head, and in two swift movements that Ross has been rehearsing in his head for the last 15 minutes, he swoops his water cup off the table, throws the contents in Danny’s face, then backhands him across his wet cheek. Dan, presumably caught off guard, immediately goes down, falling off the bench and sprawling on the floor.

‘Inmate!’ A grin flickers across Ross’ face as he hears Holly’s furious tones ring out across the room, but before anyone can catch a glimpse of it, Ross is tackled against the wall. Holly’s not particularly heavy, but she’s fast, and boy is she strong, so the wind is nearly knocked out of him as he’s pressed between the painted concrete and the warm, insistent weight of her body.

‘What the fuck was that for?’ Holly growls into his ear, but Ross can hear the smile in her voice. She knows why, the saucy minx. The same reason why her body is angled so her breasts are pressed into his back more prominently than any other part of her body.

‘I don’t know what came over me, officer.’ Ross says, not even trying to hide the grin that’s being crushed against the cafeteria wall. There’s some commotion behind them, probably Dan being helped up, guards and probably Barry rushing over to see if he’s ok.

‘Put up a bit of a fight, O’Donovan; you’re going soft.’ Holly whispers to him, too low for anyone else to hear. Obediently, Ross starts to squirm, pushing back against the arm she’s twisted up behind his back and thrashing from side to side. In response, she presses against him harder, pushing his cheek firmer into the wall.

‘Conrad-?’ Ross hears one of the other COs behind them call out, anxiously.

‘I’m fine! I just need a moment to subdue the prisoner.’

‘Mmm yeah, subdue me, baby.’ Ross hisses, not quite quiet enough for Holly’s liking. She throws him to the ground, straddling his skinny hips and wrestling his arms into cuffs behind his back. Finally she hauls him up, pushing him towards the exit. Ross just manages to get a wink to Arin as Holly frogmarches him out of the cafeteria, much to the excited jeers of their fellow prisoners.

‘What was that about?’ Danny asks when Ross is gone, mopping himself up with the various napkins that Barry’s collected from neighbouring tables.

Arin shrugs, snickering into his potatoes. ‘It’s nothing personal. He did it so he and Officer Conrad can go make out in solitary for the next hour or so.’

*

It’s been nearly three weeks now, and just as Dan feels like he’s coping, like he’s made it through the transition relatively unscathed, it hits him like a fucking train. The solid wall he’d built in his gut, that solidified every time he witnessed something that made him go _oh shit I’m in prison, this is my life now_ , that was reinforced every time Arin or Ross or Barry said something that made him feel accepted into their mismatched little group - suddenly dissolves in a flood of tears. Maybe it’s the letter from Brian, maybe it’s just a long-overdue breakdown from what has been a very overwhelming few weeks.

The only mercy is that it’s well after lights out, and Dan is safe in bed in his cell. Safe, although not alone, and he struggles to stay quiet, all too aware of Arin slumbering mere inches above him. But he’s crying too hard to be completely silent, and to his mortification, he’s letting out a steady rhythm of wet squeaks that are more than audible in the still darkness.

The bedframe creaks, and Danny’s sobs falter for a moment. He slams his eyes shut, praying that Arin is still asleep, that he’ll turn over and go to sleep and Dan can get through this little episode and be over it by morning.

No such luck.

‘Dan?’

 _Shit!_  This can’t be good. While Arin’s been a pretty chill bunkmate so far, he can’t imagine that being caught crying in a prison for grown men is going to send his popularity soaring. He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth and bites down hard, but he’s all too aware that the bed is shaking from the force of his sobbing.

‘Dan, I know you’re awake.’ Arin says, firmer this time.

‘I’m fine.’ Dan replies. It sounds false to his own ears, but Arin doesn’t know him that well. Maybe…?

The bed creaks as Arin shifts. Danny realises with a start that he’s climbing down the ladder. He hastily reaches up and claws at his face, wiping hard at the tears on his cheeks. He struggles to form his face into some reflection of composure, and suddenly Arin is standing over him, right next to the bed. Dan’s gaze sheepishly drifts up to his. Arin looks tired, but he can’t sense any hostility on his face. There are a few moments of silence as the two men regard each other warily.

‘…It’s hard, man.’ Arin says finally. ‘You gotta get used to a lot, and give up on your old life, and… I dunno, man, I’m bad at the whole talking thing.’

Danny lies there for a second, grateful that at least he’s stopped crying. ‘When does it get easier?’

Arin huffs a laugh through his nose, mirthless. ‘I’ll let you know.’

Dan focuses his gaze on the springs of the top bunk mattress. Arin doesn’t move.

‘Hey. Shift over.’ he mumbles. Dan glances at him, wondering if it’s a trick. But Arin nods at him, prompting him, and so Danny shuffles over until he’s flush with the wall. Arin peels back the blanket and gets into the bed. To Dan’s shock, Arin loops an arm around his waist and pulls him into his chest. The warmth, the comforting softness and the security of Arin’s grasp is all too much, and Danny’s dismayed to find that he’s on the verge of tears again.

‘It’s ok to be weak in here. Not so much out there, but we gotta live with each other for the next few years. No one’s a complete hardass, and I don’t expect you to be. I’ve got you, man.’

And just like that, Dan’s sobbing all his frustrations and fears into Arin’s chest.

*

What Dan doesn’t expect is Arin imposing an open-bed policy in their cell. Not every night; they both need space now and then, but most nights out of the week Arin and Dan spend huddled together on the bottom bunk.

 _It’s pretty cold for this time of year_ , Dan rationalises to himself at first. But soon, he has to accept that Arin’s presence is a comfort to him, and he finds himself missing his warmth when he slips out of bed in the morning, sliding into the top bunk just as the CO makes his first round of the day.

And eventually, as soft, murmured conversations in the dark get more and more intimate, and turn to gentle kisses, which turn into hard, desperate kisses, until Danny is panting into the empty air of the cell with Arin’s hand wrapped around his cock, Dan has to admit that perhaps Arin is more than a friend to him.

Although, what exactly that does make him remains a mystery. It’s not something they talk about with the other guys (although he swears he gets a knowing wink from Barry one day when Arin automatically busses his lunch tray for him), and some nights Arin sleeps on his own bed without so much as a word to Dan, and it’s like nothing’s ever happened.

And then one morning Arin complicates things further.

‘You excited?’ Ross asks Arin as soon as they sit down for breakfast. He’s leaning over the table, grinning at Arin with a conspiratorial wink.

‘Of course dude, are you kidding? I didn’t sleep at all last night.’

Danny shovels a forkful of eggs into his mouth, because he knows exactly what Arin was doing instead of sleeping.

‘Well, I think you look downright smart, Mr Hanson.’ Barry compliments, nodding his head amicably. Dan swallows his mouthful and looks between the three men.

‘Why, what’s the occasion? Is it someone’s birthday?’  _Oh, shit_ , he thinks, _what if it is? What’s even the birthday protocol for your prison wife? Sing them Happy Birthday in the cafeteria? Or something more heartfelt, like whittling a bar of soap into a love heart and romantically shanking them in the shower room?_

‘We get to mix with the lady prisoners once a month.’ Barry explains, while Ross smirks at Arin.

‘Oh, nice.’ Danny says, wondering why the hell Arin would be more excited that the decidedly singler and straighter Barry.

‘Arin’s gonna get his fingers wet.’ Ross chants, singsong. Arin swipes at him and clocks him around the ear.

‘Don’t talk about my fucking wife like that.’ Ross yelps and clamps a hand over his ear, but doesn’t wipe the smug grin off his face.

Dan takes a moment to register what he’s just heard. ‘…wife?’

*

‘Wait ‘til you see her, man. You’re gonna lose your  _shit_.’ Arin is a bundle of energy, his knee bouncing frantically as he keeps his eyes trained on the door to the rec room. Dan stares at him. All morning he’s been waiting for an answer as to why Arin thought it was acceptable to fuck around with his bunkmate while his  _wife_  was in the _neighboring women’s prison._

‘Arin, why the  _fuck_ -’ Suddenly, the door creaks open and Arin jumps to his feet.

It’s a new initiative, unique to their prison. The idea is to ‘foster positive communication between the sexes’, and is available for a select few prisoners who have proved they can be trusted around women, and vice-versa for the women’s prison. No one with a history of sex-based or gendered crimes, no one who’s used sexually violent language towards the female guards, that sort of thing. Arin and his wife were two of the first to be allowed into the program, having been legally married prior to their incarceration. Dan is there because Arin pestered Ross into convincing CO Conrad to pull a few strings because apparently Arin is _desperate_  to have his wife meet his new fuckbuddy. Desperate enough that Dan had to endure a strip-search just to be here.

There’s a slow, steady stream of prisoners through the doorway, and they glance around, winking and waving at the assembled male prisoners to a chorus of appreciative cheers and whistles. Arin’s head jitters back and forth as he scans every one of them. Then, just as a pale woman with dark hair comes into view, Arin grabs Dan’s arm so hard he’s surprised it doesn’t break.

‘That’s her, Dan!’

Dan takes a moment to study the woman as she stalks towards them. Half her head is buzzed short, and there’s a silvery-white streak through the long, flowing remainder. Her face is soft and round, and she looks simultaneously childlike and older than her years. Her eyes are small and piercing, and accentuated with sharp black wings painted out to each temple. Her lower lip juts out sullenly, revealing the gleaming white teeth of her bottom jaw. Her scrubs have been ripped from the hem of the sleeve to her shoulder, with a clever, loose pattern stitched into it to look like a spider’s web, through which there’s a visible sleeve tattoo on her pale, white arm. She looks _tough_ , and Dan’s already intimidated.

Then, as she gets within earshot of Arin, her face splits into a radiant smile, and she squeals ‘Baby!’ before flinging her arms open and throwing herself at Arin. He wraps her into a huge hug, lifting her off her feet, before setting her down and tightening his arms around her. He just about has time to throw the sappiest, most smug look at Dan over her shoulder, before she breaks away to pepper urgent kisses all over his face.

‘I missed you so much.’ she says between kisses. ‘Your beard’s grown!’ she exclaims, reaching up to scritch the hair along his jaw.

‘Suzy, this is Dan. He’s my new bunkmate.’ Arin says, gesturing towards him. Suzy turns, and Dan waves sheepishly. Dammit, she  _is_  cute. Cute and hot and still intimidating.

Suzy squints at him, shuffling forwards to peer at him up close. ‘Aw, he’s handsome!’ she coos, like a mother admiring another woman’s five year old. ‘Sorry, my eyesight’s really bad at the moment.’ she explains, before turning to Arin. ‘I’m out of contacts baby, and I don’t want to wear my glasses because Amanda, you know, the one who shouts for no reason? She got punched in the face the other day and a bit of glass went in her eye.’

‘Jesus, Suzy. I’ll talk to CO Conrad, see if she can’t get a new box shipped in for you.’

‘Thank you, baby.’ Suzy flops into Arin’s arms, rewarding him with another kiss.

‘Why did Amanda get punched in the eye?’ Danny asks, his voice quavering a little.

‘Well she got punched in the face, I think they got her eye by accident. She’ll be fine, she just has to wear an eyepatch for a while. She’s gonna keep the eye, they say.’

‘Jesus Christ.’

‘Yeah man, women’s prison goes fuckin’ hard.’ Arin says, grinning.

‘No shit.’ Danny agrees.

Suzy squares her shoulders, and addresses them, mock-chiding, ‘Some girl almost got stabbed over a pudding cup the other day, and meanwhile you guys just sit around jacking each other off.’

He nearly chokes on his own spit, and he shoots a look at Arin, who doesn’t seem nearly as perturbed as Dan that his beautiful tattooed wife from scary Lady-Oz knows that they’ve been giving each other handjobs on the sly. Suzy herself is smiling sweetly at him, apparently very aware of Dan’s current state of panic.

Arin laughs. ‘I told her, dude.’

‘Arin wrote me a week ago.’ Suzy confirms.

‘And you don’t mind?’ Danny asks hesitantly.

Suzy shrugs. ‘It’s only fair. We only see each other once a month, and seeing as I’ve been screwing around-’ she breaks off to nod over at a woman with sleek black skin who immediately returns her gaze and smiles back amorously. ‘It’s about time Arin got a turn. Marital relations by proxy.’

‘That’s the most insane thing I’ve ever heard.’

Arin wraps his arm around Suzy’s shoulder and pulls her into his side. ‘It works for us. We get all the sappy shit through letters and our visits and stuff, and make up for the lack of conjugals with a little physical relief and some good old fashioned imagination. Not that you’re just- you know…’

‘A mastubatory aide?’ Dan suggests dryly.

Arin has the good grace to blush. ‘It’s not like that. It’s still about you, but in the bigger picture… it’s about Suzy? I don’t know, that still sounds-’

‘It’s a physical expression of the intimacy of your friendship which indirectly assures that Arin’s sexual appetite is being fulfilled, as I can’t currently provide that.’ Suzy clarifies, patting Arin fondly on the leg.

‘Uh, yeah. What she said.’

‘Huh. I guess… I guess that makes sense. What did you do before I came along, though?’

‘Listen,’ Arin raises a hand in warning. ‘Barry was a nice enough cell mate to keep his ear plugs in and his eyes shut. That’s all anyone will be saying on the matter.’

*

‘So, you met the great Suzy.’ Barry says that evening as Dan enters the room with his arms full of laundry.

‘I did! It was terrifying. Help me out here, please.’ Danny says, dumping his clothes on the floor.

Barry’s clad only in his vest and boxers, his own laundry spinning away in another machine. ‘Use a basket! You animal.’

Danny flashes Barry a grin as he kneels to the floor, already sorting Dan’s laundry without him having to ask.

‘She’s cute, right? Ah, Jesus, man! Your socks!’

‘I know,’ Dan replies apologetically. ‘I have my dad’s feet. And I wouldn’t use ‘cute’ for her, personally.’

Barry raises an eyebrow. ‘No? What would you use, then?’

Dan thinks for a moment. ‘Intimidating.’

Barry laughs. ‘I guess she would be if you don’t know her well.’

‘You two are friends?’

‘Oh yeah. Suzy and I get on great. I used to go to the visits every month.’

‘What changed?’

Barry shrugs. ‘I enjoy Suzy’s company too much. We send a lot of letters back and forth, and she’s really the only one from the women’s prison I want to hang with. But then I feel like I’m taking time away from those two seeing each other. I’ll go every now and then, but I try not to infringe.’

Danny blushes, wondering if he was ‘infringing’. Barry notices immediately and backtracks.

‘Obviously if they asked you along, it’s not third-wheeling or anything. Besides, Arin loves showing her off to new people.’

There’s a few moments of silence while they load up the machine before Dan asks, ‘So why’s Suzy in prison, then? I know Arin said they were married before they got here.’

‘Same reason Arin’s in prison; armed robbery.’

‘Robbery? I thought Arin was in the Japanese mafia.’ Dan says, his brow furrowing in confusion.

Barry pauses, his finger hovering over the washer’s control panel ‘…Is that what he told you?’

‘He said he got involved with them and there was some big rivalry with a drug cartel. He said he tried to frame the cartel for the murder of the mafia leader’s brother, but he got caught by an undercover cop.’

Barry stares at him evenly for a moment, then says gently, ‘That’s the plot to GTA 3.’

‘What?’

‘He wasn’t in the Yakuza, Dan.’

‘He said that was why no one fucks with him.’ Danny protests weakly.

‘No one fucks with him because he’s not important enough to be fucked with. His being married to Suzy is the one thing that gets him any attention from the guys who aren’t friends with him.’

Dan gapes at Barry for a moment. ‘So wait, what about the guy that was murdered?’

‘Yeah, I can see why Arin likes you. You’re gullible.’

‘Hey!’

Barry raises his hands in defense. ‘Your words; not mine.’

‘Huh. I said that?’

‘No.’ Barry says, pointedly. ‘Look, Arin likes to tell stories. They pass the time. Just a tip, though; this is a moderate-security prison. No one here murdered anyone.’

Danny slumps on the wooden bench across from the machines. ‘Great, so I’m a dumbass.’

‘You’re not a dumbass. Arin’s very charismatic, and very believable if you’re not used to his brand of bullshit. Personally, I think the real story’s way cooler, but Arin doesn’t come off as such a badass.’

‘An armed robbery, you said?’

Barry shakes his head. ‘It wasn’t an isolated incident. It was a whole string of robberies, stretching across California. He and Suzy, they had this whole Bonnie-and-Clyde thing going on.’

‘Suzy was involved?’

‘Yeah, man. See, the thing is-’ here Barry looks around to make sure no one’s watching, and takes a seat next to Dan, dropping his voice to a murmur. ‘And Arin would probably kill me for telling you this, but- Arin never touched a gun.’

‘Okay…’

‘He didn’t even know they were gonna use weapons until Suzy busts out a semi-automatic on a small-scale bank heist.’

‘Are you fucking kidding me? Suzy?’ Dan hisses.

Barry shrugs. ‘Suzy’s a badass. She’s sweet, but I know I wouldn’t fuck with her.’

Danny frowns, trying to imagine skinny little Suzy wielding a gun. Immediately, he chases the thought back out of his head because  _oh no, that’s kind of hot._

‘So Suzy starts bringing a gun to every robbery. She never shoots anyone, doesn’t fire so much as a warning shot, but no one’s gonna try anything anyway, because… well, it’s Suzy. Just as well, though. 20 years extra if she’d fired it.’

‘And Arin?’

‘Refuses to touch them. You know how he loves video games, but Suzy told me he doesn’t even like playing first-person shooters. So Arin’s more or less the glorified getaway driver. Suzy goes in, waves a gun around and Arin backs her up, you know. Shouts at people to get on the ground, fetches the money. All that jazz. Anyway, finally they get caught, but by that time they were pretty sure the cops were on their tail, so Suzy’s ditched the gun. But at the trial, Arin cops to carrying a gun too.’

‘I thought he wasn’t armed.’

‘He wasn’t. But armed robbery adds 10 years onto your sentence.’

Danny whooshes a breath through his teeth. ‘Harsh.’

‘Yup. So he convinces them he had a gun all along, so he and Suzy will get equal sentences and get housed in neighboring prisons. They keep questioning all the victims of the robberies, and finally some guy says he might remember Arin being armed as well. With his confession, that was all they needed.’

‘How long did they get?’

‘15 years each.’

‘Arin tripled his sentence for Suzy?’

Barry shrugs. ‘That’s love, man. Suzy’s up for parole in 8, a few months before Arin. He says he’ll blow his parole if she doesn’t get out for hers.’

‘Jesus. Lucky girl.’

Barry just chuckles, his expression unreadable. ‘He’s the lucky one; and he knows it.’


	4. Chapter Four

‘Shh, she’s coming!’ Ross hisses to Barry, who shrinks into the shadow in the corner of the cell. Holly’s familiar footsteps draw closer, pausing occasionally as she checks in on the other cells. Finally, her face appears at the bars, and she squints into the dark room.

‘Now, Barry!’

At his cue from Ross, Barry strikes a match and lights the three matches that have been carefully stuck into the cornbread they got with dinner. He holds it out as Ross jumps into the square of the cell illuminated by the hall light. ‘Happy Birthday!’ he cheers, holding his hands out in a fair approximation of jazz hands.

‘Ross, what is this?’

‘Your low-key inmate surprise party!’

Frowning in bemusement, Holly unlocks the door and slides into the cell. ‘What is this, cake?’ she asks, pointing at the sad greyish-yellow square in Barry’s hands.

‘It’s… cake substitute. I’d recommend you take it more as a gesture than a treat.’ Ross warns.

‘Blow out the almost-candles!’ Barry says, thrusting the cornbread towards her. Holly lifts her eyebrows at the half burnt-out matches, before graciously puffing out the blackened sticks. Ross and Barry cheer quietly, conscious of the surrounding cells.

Ross ducks over to the bed and lifts his mattress, pulling out the little booklet he’s been transferring between his person and various places around the room for the last three weeks. He passes it to Holly.

‘What is it?’ she asks.

‘It’s a flip-book.’ Ross states proudly. Holly studies it, then presses her thumb to the side of the pages and begins to flick through them. Ross and Barry exchange pleased little glances at each other. Barry knows the contents of the book well, he’s been the main beta tester for it. A sad blue-eyed bird sitting in a cage, when a bird with pink feathers (to match Holly’s current hair color) flutters down and pecks it on the cheek through the bars. The blue-eyed bird perks up, and for the last few pages they sing together, music notes floating in the air around them.

It’s certainly sweeter than the previous animation work Ross has described to him, and Ross has worked damn hard on it, betting all sorts of weird shit for barter stamps to trade for scraps of paper from commissary, scribbling at it whenever he’s had free time and even doing some pretty far-out experiments with Jell-O to add the color wash effect on the pages.

Barry’s not sure, but he could swear he sees Holly tear up a little. But she blinks hard, and smiles radiantly at Ross.

‘Thank you.’ she whispers, pulling him in for a kiss.

Barry waits for them to finish being sappy losers before he clears his throat for Holly’s attention.

‘Sweet Holly, beautiful Holly, most wonderful correctional officer of this prison.’ he croons tunelessly, before digging into his pocket and pulling out a sleep-mask and a pair of earplugs. ‘This is my present to you.’

Holly’s eyes disappear into her hairline, and it occurs to Barry that at first glance it might seem like the mask is for her. Hastily, he stretches it over his head and pushes it up to his forehead, then pops in his earplugs.

‘Have fun, you crazy kids, I can’t hear a thing.’ And with that, he climbs into the top bunk of he and Ross’ bed and pulls the mask down over his eyes.

*

It’s sort of a running joke with the other inmates; something to be hollered at them at the lunch line, or accompanied with a knowing wink on the way to their cells for the night. Dan doesn’t mind as much as he probably should; it keeps people from fucking with him if they think he’s Arin’s bitch. And let’s be honest, he is a bit. Whether it’s letting him cut in line in the cafeteria or letting him win at cards, he is absolutely Arin’s bitch, just with a little less intimidation and fewer threats.

So it takes them both by surprise when Arin gets up for a piss one night and Danny jumps from the bed and tells him to suck his cock.

'Excuse me?' Arin says, tucking himself back into his pants and turning to Dan, eyebrows raised.

Danny swallows. ‘You heard me,’ he says, voice wavering just a little. ‘Suck it.’

Arin gives him a once-over, weighing up his options. On the one hand, CO Conrad made her last round at least half an hour ago, so they only have that long until she comes around again. On the other hand, she’ll be stopping by O’Donovan’s cell and _who the fuck is he kidding_ , just the thought of a filthy, rushed prison blowjob is getting him hard.

Playing it cool, he walks over to the bunk, grabs Danny’s pillow and drops it to the floor. Then he looks Danny straight in the eyes, gestures him over and drops to his knees.

'What's up with this, man?' Arin questions, grabbing Danny by the hips and urging him closer.

'I'm just super horny tonight. Also, I didn't think that would actually work.' Danny huffs out a laugh, but there's no denying the stiff, hot erection that Arin's grasping in his hand.

'I guess the tables have turned.' Arin remarks appreciatively, before taking Danny in his mouth. Dan gasps, his hand flying to cup Arin's jaw, fingering the muscles in his throat as they work his dick.

'Fuck, that feels good.' Dan hisses out. As much as they've fooled around, it's never been more than a hand, some fervent making out. He'd forgotten the satisfying heat of a mouth around his cock, and for a moment, he closes his eyes and tilts his head back, savouring the moment. Arin's technique is less technical than it is enthusiastic, but then Arin's not exactly Jenna Jameson and the dingy cell isn't exactly a private yacht sailing the Caribbean. It's prison; Danny will take what he can get.

He’s biting his lip to keep quiet - after all, there are neighboring cells and roaming COs to keep mindful of - but he can’t quite keep at bay the ‘ah, oh fuck, Arin!’ that slips out when Arin pulls back to suck hard at the tip of Dan’s dick.

Danny leans forward to peer down at him, and Arin tilts his head back to bat his eyelashes coquettishly, then takes him down deep. Dan doubles over slightly, his hand shifting to the back of Arin’s head. Arin hums his appreciation, sending sparks up his dick and into his belly.

'Shit… Fuck, fuck yeah.' Danny pants out. Then, quietly, he adds, 'who's the bitch now?'

Apparently not quietly enough. The comment was only really meant for Dan, to spur himself on rather than taunt the guy currently going to town on him, but Arin immediately pulls back, staring at Dan with wide eyes.

There’s a long moment of silence, and Danny’s about to apologise profusely when Arin answers,

'I'm the bitch. I'm  _your_  bitch.’ and swallows him down again. Danny’s not quite prepared for that, and answers with a strangled groan as he struggles not to lose it too soon. Which isn’t helped by Arin reaching up and rearranging Dan’s hand so that his fingers curl into a fist at the back of Arin’s head, tangling in his hair.

Arin’s head-bobbing gets a little more pointed, pulling against Danny’s fingers for longer than he bobs his head back. At this cue, Danny tightens his grip and starts to maneuver Arin’s head. More humming from Arin, and his jaw relaxes a little as he lets Danny take the reigns.

'You gonna take this cock like a good bitch?' Danny hisses out experimentally. Arin meets his eye, then lets his own flutter shut by way of approval. 'You gonna tell all the guys that hit on you at rec that your ass is owned by Avidan, that you're not gonna fuck with them anymore?'

His accent is coming out now, and he sounds almost laughably Jersey; a jailhouse parody. Besides which, there are no guys hitting on Arin, at rec or elsewhere. He doesn’t care. He feels powerful. He feels  _tough._

Arin, meanwhile, is sucking his dick like a champ, and Danny shows his appreciation with short, sharp tugs on his hair.

'You like my dick, Hanson? Bitch?' Danny eases off Arin's hair for a moment, and Arin pulls back until his dick pops out of his mouth.

'Yes, sir.'  _Fuck that’s hot_. If Danny was having trouble keeping his shit together before…

'Say it… I wanna hear you say it all.' Dan grits out.

Arin’s eyes roll up to look Danny square in the eyes, and he fucking _purrs_ , ‘I’m your bitch,  _sir_.’

Danny doesn’t give him the benefit of witnessing his own reaction to that, just pulls him by the hair back onto his cock.

Finally, Dan pulls Arin away from his crotch, then with only a few tugs on his cock, comes inelegantly on his face.

Both men are panting , swallowing hard as they try to get their breath back. Dan’s eyes track down Arin’s messy face, and he drops to his knees, kissing him. The kiss is sloppy, more sucking and biting than kissing at all, and Danny can taste his cum in Arin’s mouth and on his lips. He still doesn’t care, and his fingers trail through the mess on Arin’s cheeks, dipping them into his mouth even as he continues to make out with him.

Eventually, they come to, broken out of their haze of arousal by pure exhaustion. And, as their eyes widen, by the approaching footsteps of everyone’s favourite CO.

*

'I'm guessing Suzy's not gonna be hearing about this.' Dan says as Holly's footsteps fade out. Having scrambled into their beds, they're both settled under the blankets, waiting for the incoming sleep.

'Dude, are you kidding? She lives for this shit. She'll probably ask for a blow-by-blow from both of us. Pun intended.'

'You guys have such a weird marriage.'

'If by weird you mean awesome. Also hand me a fucking sock or something, you left your gross cum all over my face.'

'You like that, don't you bitch?' Danny teases, grinning into the darkness.

*

Brian looks extremely out of place in the visitor’s room, and Danny’s willing to bet he purposely chose to wear a fucking sweater vest just to rub that in. Danny pulls up the chair across from him and takes a moment just to study his friend, taking in the familiarity of his features.

Brian clears his throat. ‘I baked you a cake stuffed with gay porno mags, but would you believe the bastards took it off me at registration?’

Danny coughs out a laugh. ‘You asshole, don’t joke about that stuff or I’ll get cavity searched on the way out.’

'You're welcome.'

Danny shakes his head, grinning. His smile dies away after a moment.

'Thanks for coming, man. I know you had to come a long way.' Danny says sincerely, his hand twitching on the table where he longs to reach out and squeeze Brian's hand.

'Term's over, Rachel needed a holiday, I figured it was about time I made a visit.' Brian shrugs. He sounds impassive, but Dan knows better. Knows that Brian won't show affection, at least not in public.

‘Still.’ Danny says, trying to convey as much gratitude as he can in that one word.

‘So, how are you settling in?’

‘Not too badly, I think. I have friends.’

‘Danny, did you join a gang? If they’re trying to pressure you into getting a tattoo and doing drugs, they’re not your real friends.’ Brian says, mock-scolding.

‘No, no! They’re nice. I’ve gotten really close with my bunkmate, Arin.’

‘Oh yeah?  _Close_?’ Brian asks, winking conspiratorially.

Danny’s smile freezes on his face for a moment. Does he tell Brian? About Arin looking out for him and introducing him to his wife and climbing into his bed most nights? About the other stuff they get up to? In the end he just shrugs.

‘He’s a cool dude. I met his wife, she’s super hot.’

Brian nods, but the way his eyes seem to bore into his suggests to Danny that he can sense something else going on. Fucking Brian and his telepathic bullshit.

The rest of the visit goes pretty well. Dan gets a bit misty-eyed when Brian passes on a message from his father, but he manages to hold back from actual tears, and resolves to ring him tomorrow. All too soon, the two hours are over. Danny feels an ache in his chest as he realises he’d forgotten, just for a moment, that he was even in prison.

They stand, and as Dan lurches forward to pull Brian into a hug, to cling onto him for a second and take comfort in the embrace, Brian pulls back sharply. Dan drops his arms, stricken, but behind him there’s a warning ‘Inmate. No touching.’ from the guard behind them.

Ah. Danny had forgotten the no touching rule. It feels weird, saying goodbye to Brian without being able to hug him, or clap him on the shoulder, or whatever other little expressions of contact they used to take for granted before Danny landed himself here.

He kind of wants to stick his face in Arin’s chest and stay there until tomorrow morning.

*

Arin’s losing at Cards Against Humanity pretty badly in the rec room. The pack has been heavily edited by the warden, and any allusions to violence or sex have been removed, leaving most of the value in absurd humor. Which unfortunately for Arin, is more Barry’s forte.

‘The “bees?” card should  _always_  win, Ross! What the fuck?’ Arin’s shouting as Dan approaches the table. He sighs. As much as he enjoys hanging out with the three guys and laughing until he can barely breathe, it’s all a little much after his meeting with Brian. What he needs right now is some quiet time with Arin in their cell.

Barry nods a greeting to Danny, nudging out the plastic chair next to him. Dan hangs back, his eyes on Arin, who eventually turns around.

‘Hey, man. How did your visit go?’

‘It went well man, thanks.’

‘We’re playing Cards Against Humanity, sit down. Ross is cheating.’

‘Fuck off. I’m not cheating!’ Ross protests.

‘Yeah, you are. You can tell who’s played what and you  _always_  give it to Barry, it’s bullshit. This is why we need a fourth. Dan, sit down.’

Danny opens his mouth to beg out of the game, but Ross cuts him off. ‘It’s not my fault you’re not as funny as Barry.’

Arin launches across the table and shoves his finger in Ross’ face. ‘You shut your mouth, Ross. I’m _hilarious_. Dan, tell him.’

Ross and Barry roll their eyes, but Arin’s staring at him expectantly.

‘Uh… Arin, can I talk to you?’

‘Sure, bud. What’s up?’

‘No, I mean…’ He flicks his eyes desperately from Barry to Ross. ‘In the cell.’

Arin twists in his chair to glance at the deck. ‘Can’t it wait until-’

‘Now.’ Arin raises his eyebrows, taken aback by the firmness in Danny’s voice.

He stands up, folding his hand face-down on the table. ‘Uh… I’ll be right back, guys. Ross, don’t you fucking look at my cards.’

‘It wouldn’t make your plays any more predictable.’ Ross shoots back. Arin flips him off, then stalks away towards the cell.

Inside the still concrete room, Dan breathes out a sigh as the silence settles his anxious mood.

‘So?’ Arin asks.

Danny swallows, then walks up to Arin and places his hand over his crotch.

‘Uh…?’ Arin says looking down at his hand with bemusement.

‘Come on. Right here.’

‘Daniel, at least buy me dinner first.’ he jokes.

‘Arin, _please_.’

Arin pulls away. ‘I’m not in the mood Dan, chill out.’

Danny grabs for him again. ‘Just blow me already.’

Arin snatches at his wrist, gripping it tightly.

‘Don’t tell me what to do.’ He grits out firmly. ‘When did you get so needy anyway? I-’ The confusion dissolves from his face, and there’s a tinge of cruelty in his expression.

'What could have brought this on, I wonder?' Arin muses mockingly, sticking his finger to his lips in a pantomime of thinking hard. 'And right after visiting hours, could it be…' He mock gasps, his hand moving to cover his heart with spread fingers like an awestruck southern belle, 'why, it  _couldn’t_  be that old guy you never shut up about? Brian?’

Danny stiffens at Brian’s name. Arin clocks it immediately, and widens his smug grin.

'I thought so. Ever since you told me about him, I knew it. All that stuff about his wife. You've got it bad, man. It must suck that he can't visit you as much as you'd like, what with that pesky family of his.'

Danny’s not even conscious of moving, but there he is with Arin pinned up against the wall of the cell. Arin huffs out a breath as the wind is knocked out of him, but doesn’t break eye contact. There’s a glint in his eye, and suddenly his tone turns cold.

'Tell me Dan, whose mouth was your cock in the other night? Mine or Brian's? I promise I won't be jealous.'

‘Shut up, dude.’ Danny warns.

‘Was it Suzy? First Brian’s married, now you find out I have a wife too. That must hurt, knowing the two guys you want to fuck will never love you as much as they love their wives. That kind of makes you-’

Arin is interrupted by Danny’s fist, and he yells as the punch sends him stumbling over and onto the floor.

'Fuck!' Arin screams, pressing the back of his hand to his nose to check for blood. Danny stands there, fists still clenched and panting hard as hurried footsteps approach the cell. Neither man moves as a couple of guards rush into the cell, and Arin only scrambles away when Danny is slammed against the concrete wall and put in restraints.

*

Danny’s feeling pretty pumped up from punching a guy in the face, and as he’s led out past the jeering inmates in the rec room, he even feels bold enough to struggle against the restraining officer.

It’s ridiculous, the one time he feels like he’s earned the respect of some of the other guys in the prison, that he looks like a badass and might actually fit in here, it’s for Arin taunting him over some petty high school-esque bullshit.

His adrenaline rush and ferocious mood evaporates around the time he’s shoved into a cell down near solitary. He’s not stripped or anything, which he was half-expecting, and there is a little metal cot in the corner, and even a toilet, but it’s cold, and dingy, and suddenly Dan’s regretting his little tantrum.

As the adrenaline wears off, he begins to shiver, and he starts feeling the ache in his knuckles. And it’s as he’s sitting there, huddled on the hard cot with its scratchy blanket and sad, lumpy pillow, that it hits him like a punch in the gut;  _hey idiot, you think they’re gonna let you see Brian again before he leaves?_

He flops onto his side and focuses intently on breathing deeply so he won’t start crying. 


	5. Chapter Five

Dan’s let out the next morning; from the jokey, slightly condescending way the warden says ‘and don’t let me catch you beating anyone else up, ok?’, he guesses he didn’t do as much damage to Arin as he’d thought. Besides, Danny’s barely 130 pounds. He’s less a menace to society than he’s a menace to the elbows in his jackets.

He gets back to the cafeteria just in time for breakfast. There’s some barking and cheers directed at him, but again, all a little condescending. Danny ducks his head and makes a beeline for Barry and Ross, who he can just make out at one of the tables. He approaches the table just as Arin plops down across from Barry, clocks Dan, and immediately scowls at him. There’s a very light bruise on the bridge of his nose, and the area’s a little swollen. Honestly, his face is in better shape that Danny’s knuckles. He can see why no one’s taking their fight seriously.

‘Listen man, I just wanted to say-’ Arin cuts off Danny’s attempt at an apology by standing up sharply and whisking his lunch tray over to another table. Beside his empty seat, Ross looks over at him, shoots an apologetic look to Danny, then sighs and gets up to sit with Arin.

‘So Arin’s not talking to me?’ Danny says, easing himself onto the bench next to Barry. His muscles ache from sleeping on the mattress-less cot.

‘He’s pretty pissed off about that punch in the face.’

‘Yeah? Well, I’m pretty pissed off about him shit-talking me. But we’re grown men, not teenage girls, and I have to share a cell with him.’

Barry shrugs. ‘He’s got three years with you, I’m sure he’ll come around. In the meantime, he can bear a bit of a grudge. Not a huge grudge; he’ll probably get tired of hating you in a few weeks or so, but you’re gonna get iced out until then.’

‘Great.’ Dan sighs, slumping in his seat.

‘Can I ask what it was about?’ Barry asks tentatively.

Dan considers for about half a second. ‘No.’

‘Fair enough.’ Barry says, and goes back to eating.

It still seems absurd to Danny that his first prison beef is from him punching someone, and not the other way around. Avi would be ashamed of him. Brian would be proud.

_Shit, Brian._

‘Uh, do you know when they’ll let me have visits again?’

Barry chews thoughtfully. ‘Hard to tell. They don’t let you have visitors while you’re in solitary, but I think they just threw you in there for a warning, or they wouldn’t have let you out already. But the fight _did_ happen directly after your visit yesterday, and I’m pretty sure they’ll have noticed that.’

‘Shit.’ Dan mutters.

‘Talk to the warden.’ Barry advises. ‘He’s kind of an asshole, but it’s more of a front he puts on. Bad-cop sort of thing. He’s pretty reasonable as long as you act remorseful.’

*

Danny’s never been great at talking to authority figures. Whether it’s overly casual and friendly or stubborn and rebellious as a response to being in trouble, he always comes off  _wrong_. But he’s determined. This is for Brian, after all. Danny will never forgive himself if he’s managed to punch his way out of seeing Brian for the next however-many-months before he can justify another trip out. So he draws on his improv skills, and presents to the warden the most respectful, remorseful, physically weak son-of-a-bitch he can muster.

‘I don’t like violence in my prison, Avidan. It sends the wrong message.’

‘I agree, sir. My behavior was totally uncalled for.’ Danny’s head is bowed, and he keeps his eyes trained on the floor; it’s the pose he always used for the lowest low-status characters. He hated playing low-status.

‘You’re new to system; you should be trying to stay out of trouble.’

‘Yes, sir, I should. It won’t happen again.’

In his periphery, he sees the warden stop and turn from where he’s pacing around the office and start towards him. ‘You punched an inmate. Your bunkmate, as I recall?’

‘Yes, sir. I let my emotions get the better of me and got into an altercation,’  _altercation: nice word,_  he thinks to himself. ‘It was wrong of me and I have nothing but regret for my actions.’

Danny holds his breath. The warden is towering over him as he shrinks into the scratchy hessian armchair. He waits for the warden to do something; to scream at him, or swear, or punish him. Instead the man sighs and backs off, leaning against his desk.

‘Jesus, Avidan, you’re in prison. Man the fuck up and talk to me like an adult.’

Danny raises his head, frowning.

‘“Sir” this and “sir” that? You sound ridiculous. It’s a federal prison, not a prep school. You’re allowed to talk plainly. If you can get through this meeting without calling me a racial slur, you’ll already have an advantage over most of the guys who come to my office, just stop acting so goddamn prissy. Now, what do you want?’

Dan blinks. ‘Uh. I’d like my visiting hours back. Please.’

‘You got into an “altercation”,’ here, the warden makes sarcastic finger-quotes, ‘directly after one of your visits. Obviously something set you off.’

‘It was bad timing. I had… an issue with my cellmate, and it just happened to come to a head when it did. If anything, my visitor’s probably really good for me. He’s a college professor in London, very prestigious.’

There’s a flicker at the corner of the warden’s mouth. ‘I can see why you’d be friends.’ Danny ignores the condescension in his voice. ‘Nevertheless, I don’t allow fighting in my prison. You may have inflicted as much damage as a wet sock, but there are guys in here who have done nothing but work out for 10 years straight, and if they think I’m getting soft on prison violence…’

‘Punish me some other way! I’ll do kitchen duties for free or something!’

‘Prison wages are 11 cents an hour, it’s practically free labor anyway.’ The warden sighs, and leans against his desk, staring hard at Dan. ‘Do you know how I knew your name when you walked in, Avidan?’

‘No.’ Danny replies, hesitantly.

‘It’s because my secretary told me before she sent you in. The reason you had to wait so long to see me was because I made her check the records to make sure you were actually an inmate here. Apparently the only other time I’ve heard your name since you got here was when you requested a cell change. I have no memory of this.’

‘Uh.’ Danny’s not sure where this is going.

‘My point is, before you punched your cellmate in the face, I had no clue you even existed in my prison. Which is not to say no one would notice if you escaped,’ he adds hastily. ‘but it does suggest you’re pretty skilled at staying under the radar. So I will give you your visiting hours back on two conditions.’

‘Anything.’ Dan says immediately, his heart leaping.

‘One,’ he begins, ‘I never see you in my office again. You have a three year sentence, and I expect you to serve them like a model prisoner. Two, if anyone asks, I revoked your visitation. I’d give you a fake story to tell them, but honestly, I don’t believe anyone will ask. You’re not affiliated with any gangs and there are no reports of you being into drugs or alcohol or smuggling, which makes you severely unimportant in the workings of the prison system. Use that to your advantage and keep your nose clean. Agreed?’

‘Agreed.’ Dan says, feeling a little dazed.

‘Good. Now get the hell out of my office.’

‘Yes, warden.’ Danny stands, and goes to the door.

‘Oh, and don’t tell anyone about this conversation. That’s uh, that’s condition number three.’

‘Noted.’ Danny calls as he shuts the door behind him.

*

Next, he has to make peace with Arin. But Arin’s a slippery motherfucker when he wants to be, and Danny spends most of the day tracking him down, only for him to shoot him a glare, walk away and seemingly dematerialise into thin air for the next hour or so. It’s not until they’re literally locked into their cell that night that Danny gets a chance to talk to him.

Well, in theory.

‘Arin, take your fingers out of your fuckin’ ears and talk to me.’ Dan snaps at Arin, who is sitting on the top bunk, facing the wall with his fingers plugging his ears while he sings some nonsense tune like an obnoxious kid. He pauses for a moment to shoot back,

‘Or what, you’ll hit me again?’

Danny sighs. ‘Ok, well obviously you can hear me, so let’s work from there. Look man, I’m sorry that I hit you, but you were kind of being an asshole.’

Danny waits for Arin to interject, but he keeps on yell-singing tunelessly.

‘All that shit about Brian, that wasn’t cool man. I was being kind of a dick too, but you had no right to bring that shit up.’

Still nothing, except someone screaming ‘Shut the fuck up!’ a couple of cells over. Arin quietens slightly. Danny continues.

‘You know it’s a sore spot for me, and you were obviously looking for a reaction.’

‘So what, I  _asked_  for it?’

_Yeah, kinda_. Danny thinks, but decides to keep it to himself for the sake of the tenuous hold he has on Arin’s attention.

‘Not… exactly? But come on, man. You could see I was in a bad way after my visit. You chose to be a dick.’

Arin’s not doing his obnoxious singing anymore, and his fingers are out of his ears, but he’s still glaring at the wall.

Sighing, Danny accepts defeat. ‘I’m sorry I punched you in the face. What can I do to make it up to you?’

There’s a pause, and Danny’s about to give up on the whole damn thing; go to bed and start brainstorming ways to convince Siegler Heil not to kill him in his sleep when he inevitably gets sent back to his previous cell.

‘Tell Suzy.’ Arin says suddenly.

‘What?’

‘Tell Suzy what you did.’ Arin turns around to look at him, his eyes challenging. ‘Then I’ll forgive you.’

‘Can’t you tell her?’ Danny says weakly. Suzy’s gonna hate him after this anyway, he’d really rather not be present for the moment she decides he’s scum.

‘Nope.’ Arin says firmly. ‘You tell her you punched me in the face.’

‘Come on, man. We’re just getting to be friends.’

‘Yeah well, shoulda thought of that before you almost broke her husband’s nose.’

‘Arin, I did not come close to breaking your nose. It’s barely even bruised.’

‘She’s gonna find out anyway. Either I get to tell her whatever version I please and never talk to you again, or you can tell her yourself and at least have me back as a friend. You need me on your side, Dan, be honest with yourself.’

‘You are such a dick.’ Dan grits out. ‘Fine! I’ll tell her.’

Arin smiles, satisfied. ‘Good. Next meeting’s in a fortnight.’

*

Arin plays nice for the next two weeks, but Dan’s still given a moderately cold shoulder. As if he needed more proof that prison is basically high school for grown men, Arin talks over him, or snickers to Ross when he walks past. Lights-out has become sleeping time again, and Arin is always out for breakfast in the morning before Danny’s even out of bed.

Barry keeps him company, but Ross seems to be tiring of playing Arin’s Number Two by the time Suzy’s visit rolls around.

‘He bitches  _constantly_.’ Ross complains, when he runs into Danny at the laundry room. ‘Do whatever he wants you to do to get him back on your side, because as soon as he stops hating you, he is _all yours_.’

Suzy greets him warmly when she does arrive, squeezing his hand firmly when she goes to hug Arin. Danny smiles at her weakly, not looking forward to losing their budding friendship. Over her shoulder, Arin smiles widely, infuriatingly smug.

‘Do I look different?’ Arin asks her when she pulls away. Suzy studies his face, frowning.

‘You look the same. Probably time for a haircut.’ she notes, lifting a lock of his hair.

‘Do I look  _swollen_?’ he prompts, dipping his head to display his nose.

Suzy raises an eyebrow and glances at Dan for an explanation. Arin gives him a pointed look, and he sighs.

‘Listen, Suze… Arin and I kind of got in a fight.’

‘He hit me.’ Arin whimpers. Danny glares at him.

‘He said some shit I wasn’t happy about, but I punched him and I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry Arin.’

‘When did this happen?’

‘A couple of weeks ago. I swear, I barely did enough damage to leave a bruise, but Arin’s been pretty steamed about it. Which I guess I deserve.’ he says, sighing in resignation.

Suzy’s gaze passes from him to Arin, and she reaches up to tweak his cheek.

‘Awww, bub. Did the big nasty man hurt you?’ she asks him, like she’s talking to a baby. Not even a baby, a cat.

Danny blushes. Arin scowls and swats her hand away. ‘It really hurt, it was right in the nose! They put him in solitary for it.’

Suzy sucks through her teeth and turns to Dan. ‘Oh man, solitary sucks. How long were you in for?’

‘It was only one night.’

‘Oh, that’s nothing.’ she tuts. ‘Worst I got was a week, back when I first arrived.’

Danny raises his eyebrows. ‘Holy shit, a week? What did you do?’ Behind Suzy, Arin is glaring daggers, furious that his little plan has backfired.  _Eat shit, asshole_  Dan thinks.

‘I asserted my dominance.’ Suzy says, shrugging. When Danny cocks an eyebrow in question, she sheepishly adds. ‘I bit a girl who threatened me.’

‘Holy shit. Did it work?’

‘Yeah, it worked!’ she says enthusiastically. ‘I scared the shit out of everyone, then killed them with kindness when I got back. No one fucks with me.’ she explains, grinning brightly. ‘And no one forgets, because she’s still got a scar in the shape of my teeth marks.’

‘Jesus. How many times has she tried to murder you?’

‘It’s not like that, Lara and I are on great terms. She understands what it’s like in here. If anything it made her respect me more.’

‘Huh. It must be nice to be in a place with people who understand forgiveness.’ Dan says pointedly. Suzy shoots a glance to the supervising officer to make sure he isn’t looking, then pinches Danny on the arm. ‘Ah, fuck!’

‘Arin’s still my husband, don’t be a dick to him.’

‘Sorry, Suze.’

‘Anyway, you apologised, so we can all move on. I get one chance a month to mingle with guys who aren’t asshole COs, so let’s bring back the positive vibes.’

Arin rolls his eyes, but shrugs and appears to acquiesce.

‘So. Speaking of blowjobs…’

‘Suzy!’ Danny hisses. Suzy cackles, showing her teeth.

‘Honestly, though? How was it? I’ve never had the pleasure of having Arin suck my dick, but I recall him being pretty good with his mouth.’

Danny can feel his ears burning with embarrassment, and he’s vaguely aware of Arin puffing out his chest beside him. ‘He’s decent.’ he mutters.

‘Decent?’ Arin demands, indignant.

‘Hey man, you got me there. That’s what’s important.’

Suzy chuckles. ‘I guess he didn’t learn enough from me. Because I give a _killer_  blowjob.’ If her husband weren’t standing right next to them, Danny would swear Suzy was coming on to him. Her shoulder’s dipped towards him, her head is cocked and damned if she isn’t giving a pretty accurate imitation of fuck-me eyes. Danny shoots a panicked glance to Arin, but he’s looking around the room and shaking his head, apparently trying to make eye contact with someone so he can communicate his indignation at his oral sex skills being branded merely ‘decent’.

‘Still, you’ll have to take my word for Arin’s abilities when it comes to  _my_ junk.’ She shoots Arin a look, and with honey coating her words, drawls, ‘He’s an absolute master at getting  _me_  off.’ Arin turns back to them, and grins at Suzy.

‘And for what it’s worth, the dirty-talking kind of blew my fuckin’ mind.’ Danny adds, shaken by whatever the fuck that was with Suzy just now.

Suzy coos at Arin, who shrugs in faux-modesty. ‘What can I say, I’m good with my mouth.’ he says.

Arin and Danny get the hang of their usual teasing banter by the end of the visit, although Dan can’t help but glance at Suzy whenever Arin isn’t looking, just for some hint of what her look from before meant. Suzy only causes more confusion by occasionally returning his glances with a sly, coquettish smoulder back, or her hand brushing his thigh when it returns to her side from gesturing or being wrapped around her husband’s arm. With a sinking in his stomach, Dan realises that it’s happened, he’s once and for all gotten a big old inconvenient crush on Suzy. As if it wasn’t complicated enough that he was her husband’s fuckbuddy.Or that they’re all in prison.

When the women in the room are called back to return to their own prison, Suzy steals a quick kiss from her husband, then turns to leave, winking at Danny as she goes. He feels dazed.

He sucks Arin off that night, mostly out of guilt, but he frames it as relief that they’re friends again. Arin’s certainly not complaining; seeing Suzy always gets him in the mood, he tells Dan. As he gets closer to his climax, his mouth gets loose and he starts describing all the shit he and Suzy used to get up to when they were still free; fucking against the wall in a filthy alley after their first successful robbery, Arin pulling over in between cities because he couldn’t wait to get to a motel and had to eat her out right there in the car. Danny’s imagining it all as he sucks Arin down, but he’s only picturing Suzy, moaning and gasping as she comes. He hopes Arin doesn’t notice him sneak his own hand down to jerk himself off.

*

There’s not much else to say to Brian after their last visit. Well, there’s plenty to say, but nothing that Dan’s going to willingly volunteer.

Brian, in his usual fashion, opens the visit with,

‘I thought of a new song title. What do you think of  _Bust a Nut_?’

Which sends Dan into a fit of hysterical laughter right off the bat. Brian makes it worse by adding,

‘It would be a spiritual successor to  _Bust a Move_.’ Masterfully, he changes tack. ‘By the way, why was my visit delayed?’ Brian’s tone is gently scolding. Danny guesses he was told in some capacity that he was being punished when their visit last week was rescheduled.

Danny shrugs and picks at a loose thread on the sleeve of his scrubs. ‘It was nothing. I got into a fight.’ He flicks his eyes up guiltily, just in time to see a flash of concern cross Brian’s face.

‘With who? Not that Nazi guy you told me about?’

‘No! Jesus, if I picked a fight with the Brotherhood, you’d be sitting at my funeral right now, not in a visitor’s chair.’ This apparently doesn’t sway Brian’s concern, so he adds. ‘It was with Arin. It wasn’t even a fight; I hit him and got thrown in solitary before he could throw a punch back.’

‘Arin?’ Brian asks.

‘My cellmate.’

‘I thought you liked him.’

‘I do! But… he pissed me off. It doesn’t matter, I apologised and we’re past it now.’ Danny shrugs and dusts his hands to signify that the issue is dropped. Not that Brian’s going to end a conversation on Danny’s terms.

‘What were you even fighting about?’

_The fact I want to fuck you, and fuck him. And now his wife_  Danny thinks. He struggles to cover himself. ‘It- It was nothing. He uh… he snitched on me for taking an extra pudding at lunch.’

‘Your cellmate tells on you for stealing an extra dessert and you punch him in the face?’ Brian snorts. ‘Prison has really changed you.’ He almost sounds impressed, the son of a bitch.

‘The important thing is you’re here, man.’

Brian nods slowly. ‘We’re flying out in a couple of days, so this is probably our last visit.’ he says gently.

Dan sighs. ‘I figured as much. It’s been great having you here, though. Really.’

‘Well, obviously.’ Brian says, shrugging off the sentiment. Dan chuckles.

‘You’ll be okay though, right?’ Danny’s surprised to hear how genuine Brian sounds. Their deep affection for each other has always been mostly implied - at least on Brian’s part. Secretly, part of him is glad to hear that Brian’s going to miss him just as much as he’ll miss Brian.

Danny looks him square in the eyes. ‘I don’t want you to worry about me. Seriously, you’ve got your own shit. I fucked up, but I have three years to work off my debt to society, yadda yadda. And honestly? It could be a lot worse. I have friends in here, and I might even get paroled early. And then… then I can start over.’

‘What are you thinking?’

‘I’m probably done with trying to be a businessman.’ Dan remarks wryly. ‘I’ve… I was kinda thinking about trying the whole music thing out again, even before I landed in here. Get a desk job or something, it doesn’t really matter how shitty, as long as I can live off of it, and try writing music again.’

Brian whistles through his teeth. ‘Shit, that takes me back.’

‘Yeah, man. But I loved doing it, and it felt like what I wanted to do. I let it fall by the roadside because it wasn’t making me rich, but Jesus, Brian. Money and freedom don’t mean shit if you’re not using them to do stuff that makes you happy.’

Brian raises an eyebrow. ‘That’s very profound, Daniel. And who knows, maybe by then I’ll have been fired from the University, and you and I can go back to living in a shitty apartment in Brooklyn writing songs about dicks.’

Danny snorts, ignoring the pang in his chest because  _fuck_ , that’s what he wants more than anything. ‘I bet Rachel would love that.’

‘Please, Rachel will definitely have divorced me by the time you’re out.’ He grins at Dan. ‘I’m surprised she hasn’t already, dragging her across the Atlantic to go see my douchebag prison pen-pal.’

‘She’s a keeper, man.’ and Danny’s personal feelings aside, his smile is genuine. ‘Send her my apologies, and tell her that if she hears an inmate’s broken out of here, she should probably prepare a bed.’

‘Oh yeah man, of course we’d harbor you as a fugitive. We have an attic in our place, did I tell you? Hey, that would be perfect for you, what with the whol-’

‘Don’t fucking say it, Brian! You’re a goddamn college professor, try and be a little classier.’ Brian laughs loudly enough at that that the supervising officer glares at Dan from across the room.

Their goodbye isn’t quite as painful as last time, even though Danny knows it’s going to be a lot longer before they see each other again. They stand staring at each other for a moment, an awkward space where their hug should be.

‘Hug your wife in my honor.’ Danny suggests.

‘Yeah.’ Brian answers. ‘Go hug Erin or whatever his name is.’

‘Arin.’

‘Slip him a finger if you really start to miss me.’

‘Okay, time for you to go.’ Danny says, hoping he isn’t as red at Brian’s comment as he feels like he is.

*

That night, Arin slips into his bed for the first time since their incident. Danny’s never been so ecstatic to be embraced by another grown man.

‘Your arms feel like home.’ he whispers, mock sincerity in his voice disguising how genuinely sincere he is.

Arin snorts. ‘Shut up man, don’t make it weird.’

‘Oh I’m sorry, should I whip my dick out instead? Would that make you more comfortable?’

‘How did your visit with Brian go today?’

‘Oh, uh.’ Danny’s used to a few more gay jokes before the delve into the deep conversations. He can’t help but tense up a little, hoping this isn’t going to turn into what it did last time. Arin gives him a reassuring squeeze.

‘I’m asking in a nice way, I promise.’

‘Then… yeah. It was good man, thanks. It felt like a good place to leave it, you know? Not like last time.’

Arin grunts in response, apparently as unwilling as Dan to bring up the consequences of the last visit.

‘I won’t be able to see him for a while, but I feel okay about it now. I don’t feel like I’m gonna… you know, pine after him.’  _God that sounds pathetic_. He’s glad that their current position doesn’t allow for eye contact.

'You think you're over him?'

Danny sighs. ‘Not exactly. You have to understand, Brian was the first dude I ever had…’  _ugh, here he goes again_  ‘feelings for. He’s still a big deal to me. But I feel like time away is probably good for me getting over those feelings once and for all.’

‘Yeah.’ says Arin. ‘And you have… other interests to focus on now.’

‘Someone’s feeling presumptuous.’

‘Whatever man, you can try and convince yourself you could stay away from this if you tried, but you and I both know that’s a lie.’

‘I did a pretty good job while you were icing me out.’ Dan says quietly.

‘Yeah… shit. I was being kinda- It was super dickish of me to say that shit about Brian, you were right. I managed to convince myself it was all justified, but… You know, you were talking to Suzy, and I was kinda glad when you didn’t tell her what I said. If she’d been here this would all have been straightened out before it started. She would have made me apologise. Suzy and I, we’ve known each other since we were really young, and sometimes I feel like I relied on her for some social shit I probably didn’t develop for myself. Which is why I handled this like a 13 year old would. So I’m sorry, I guess is what I’m saying.’

‘Thanks, man.’

‘I’m gonna make more of an effort to not be an ass, because you really mean a lot to me; I feel like you make me a better person, especially in here, and I should be making more effort to hang onto you while I can.’

‘Wow, Arin.’ Danny says, mulling over Arin’s heartfelt little speech. ‘I think that’s the gayest thing to come out of your mouth since my dick.’

‘Your dick’s gay?’ Arin counters, not missing a beat despite the circumstances.

‘I think it’s been made pretty clear that my dick is a solid bisexual. Maybe even that other one, the one where you’ll have sex with anyone.’

‘Uh… pansexual, I believe?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘Anyone, huh?’

Ten minutes later, Arin has to duck under the blanket when an officer comes to scold them through the bars for getting a little too raucous with their game of ‘Would you fuck this?


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've come from Tumblr, please forgive me

Barry approaches him a few days later and furtively slips him an envelope. Danny tucks it into his waistband, sensing a need for concealment, but he’s not sure why.

‘Is this for me? I thought you’d finished mail call.’ Brian had alerted Danny of his departure from the country with two words;  _later bro_. It was in no way worth the postage it would have cost to send it to the prison, but Danny immediately put it with the rest of his letters anyway.

‘You owe me back the 50 stamps I had to pay to get that letter off the guys in the mailroom.’ Barry says, eyeing him sharply.

‘50 stamps? You didn’t have to put yourself out like that man, go give it back to them.’ Danny says, reaching for the envelope. Barry puts out a hand and stops his wrist.

‘I think you’ll want to read it.’ he says. There’s something almost disapproving about Barry’s tone, but Dan just nods.

‘I’ll bring the stamps by at dinner. Thanks for doing that, man.’ Barry just grunts and walks off.

Danny excuses himself to the bathroom. There’s an unscheduled contraband check going on that morning and they’re not allowed back to their cells until it’s over, but he’s not waiting another 45 minutes to see what was so important that Barry had to smuggle it out to him.

Luckily, with so many officers on cell-check duty, Danny figures he can slip past the relatively lax supervision of the COs if he needs a while to read his letter through. He ducks into one of the cubicles, which like the rest, closes but doesn’t lock. He sits on the seat of the toilet, and braces his leg against the door in case anyone does try to open it. Being a gangly-ass motherfucker does occasionally have its uses.

He takes the letter out of the envelope. There’s already a bit of wear and tear, and Dan wonders just how much of a struggle Barry had to get the letter into his custody. He unfolds it and begins to read.

_Hey, Dan!_

_I really enjoyed our last visit._  Wait, what? It’s not Brian’s handwriting, it’s round and looped, but he hasn’t had any other-  _Suzy_ , he realises. Suddenly his face gets hot as he starts to wonder exactly what’s in the letter that makes it so sought-after.

_I just wanna say, I’m so happy that Arin has you. Seriously, I know he has Barry and Ross and he loves the shit out of both of them, but you should see how he writes about you. I guess I just wanted to say thanks for being there for him in my absence, and I look forward to us getting closer during the visits._

_It’s funny, he said you were pretty good looking when he first wrote me about you, but there’s something about you, Dan. Charisma, I think that’s it. The way you smile, something about your voice._

_I find you so fucking hot._

There’s a spike of heat in his stomach. Jesus, Suzy  _was_  coming onto him the other day.

This is probably not good. It doesn’t stop him from reading on.

_I can’t stop thinking about you, it just gives me another reason to look forward to the visits each month. You don’t have to write me back, but I hope you’ll be ok with me sending you more of these. Because hey, prison’s fucking boring and now I have two people to write to._

_And I reeeally hope this letter reaches Barry or there’s no way it’s gonna get out of the mail room, but I’m gonna risk it anyway._

_I keep thinking about sitting on your face._

_Lots of love,_

_Suzy xoxo_

Danny has to read that last part three times before it registers. In his brain, anyway, because it’s certainly registered somewhere else. He can’t believe it. He has a smoking hot girl who apparently wants to fuck him just as badly as he does her, and she’s married  _and_  incarcerated. If only she was married to a woman instead of Arin, he’d have the whole trifecta of unattainable. Although she did mention that woman on their first visit, and hey, the whole ‘into my own gender’ thing hasn’t managed to stop him or Arin.

This is so confusing.

He gives himself a minute to calm down, then tucks the letter back into his waistband and exits the bathroom. Arin and Ross are shit-talking each other at the ping-pong table, their friendship rekindled now that Arin and Dan are back on speaking terms. He feels a wash of guilt seeing Arin, knowing he has such an intimate letter from his wife currently hidden on his person. He feels it again as he recalls Barry's disapproving look as he handed him the envelope.  _Ah, fuck_. He has context for that expression now. He decides to seek Barry out.

He finds him leaning against the door frame to one of the guard pods, chatting to CO Conrad. As Danny approaches, Barry lifts his head, and murmurs a goodbye to Holly.

'You read it?' he says as he approaches.

'Yeah.' Danny doesn't know what else to say. 'I didn't-'

'Look man, just be careful. It's a fucking rabbit hole, make sure you're sure before you decide to fling yourself down it.'

There's something in Barry's voice. 'Did you... You know?'

Barry sighs. 'Not exactly. I got vibes? I thought. At some of the meetings. I guess I misinterpreted them.'

'Oh, shit.' Dan should have seen it before. Of course Barry had fallen in love with Suzy. Who wouldn't?

'You'd better not be thinking what I think you are.' Barry warns. 'It wasn't like that. For either of us, but I thought she was interested, and I backed off. Sent her a letter telling her I was flattered and everything, but I just saw her as a friend. Like I said, I misinterpreted, she was a little hurt and I've been too embarrassed to face her since. Although it seems you weren't misinterpreting anything.' he adds, with a sly glance at Dan.

'I don't know, man. I didn't... It's all unsolicited, I swear. She's putting the moves on me, and I don't know why. What did Arin say about it?' he asks after a moment.

'Are you nuts? I didn't tell Arin shit. I gave him the same bullshit I gave you, about me getting in the way.'

'What do you suggest I do?'

'Honestly? Flush it. I get you're probably very into Suzy, but you'll see her once a month at most. Arin you see every day. Don't fuck him over like this, it'll only make things awkward. At best. At worst he finds out and sics one of the gangs on you. Think about it. It seems like it's worth it, but it's not. Put a stop to it while you still can with a clean conscience.'

Danny nods slowly. 'You're right. I'll get rid of it.'

He walks away from Barry with a clear conscience, knowing what he has to do. He marches right back into the bathroom and ducks into the same cubicle.

_I keep thinking about sitting on your face._

Fuck.

_You're so fucking hot._

No.

_Suzy xoxo_

Danny's desire to do the right thing is instantly obliterated by his overwhelming desire to jerk off. Who was he kidding? Like he's gonna turn down  _Suzy_? He fishes the letter out of his pants and shakes it open with one hand, the other drifting down to his crotch. His eyes immediately search for that line.

_I keep thinking about sitting on your face_

_Thinking about sitting on your face_

_Sitting on your face_

Danny stifles a moan and digs the heel of his hand firmly into his growing erection because _fuck,_  he can picture it. He's done it with girls before, of course, but imagining Suzy seated in their place is a whole new rush. Her whole weight on Danny's face, her thighs crushed to his ears as he works her open with his tongue. The taste, fuck, the smell, that warm, heady smell, Dan can remember it clearly. Finally, he allows his hand into his waistband and takes hold of his cock, gasping at the relieved pressure.

Two guys walk into the bathroom, talking loudly.

Dan drops his dick like it's red-hot. He's almost impressed at how perfectly awful the timing is.

He just has the sense of mind to throw his weight against the door just as one of the guys attempts to push it open.

'Who's in there?'

Cursing under his breath, Dan carefully tucks himself back in, and the letter into his waistband.

'No one.' he answers.

'Well hurry the fuck up. I need to take a shit.' The good news is, Dan's little problem is now flagging pretty rapidly. He gives himself a few calming breaths, adjusts himself and flushes the toilet, shuffling out of the cubicle with his head down. The guy pushes past him, and Dan runs the faucet for a couple of seconds before he gets the hell out of there.

When they're finally let back into their cells, Danny hides the letter in an old rock biography his mother sent him when he first arrived.

*

He brings the stamps with him to dinner. As he passes Barry’s table in line, they make eye contact, and Barry raises an eyebrow, presumably about the stamps. Danny nods, and Barry turns back to his meal. Dan gets his food and joins him at the table, discreetly sliding the sheet of stamps under Barry’s tray.

‘It was the right thing to do man, trust me.’ Barry murmurs. Danny realises with a jolt that Barry thinks he destroyed the letter. And as much as he’ll try to convince himself that he would have corrected him had Arin and Ross not joined them just then, there’s no way Danny’s going to subject himself to more of Barry’s crushing disapproval. So he says nothing.

It’s torture waiting until curfew. Suzy’s words keep rattling around in his brain, along with flashes of his earlier fantasy, and Danny feels like he’s 14 all over again. He ends up acting a little distant to Arin, if only because of his crippling guilt from the fact that all he can think about is jerking off to the thought of his wife. He hasn't had to think about Grandma in lingerie to calm himself down in about 20 years, but hey, this is prison. Danny's a little starved for stimulation in regards to the ladies. Still, it's embarrassing that he's this volatile after only a couple of months, and with some fairly frequent sexual contact with his bunkmate. He's not sure how the other guys survive, the ones who've been in here for years and wouldn't suck a dick if it jizzed ambrosia.

Finally, _finally,_  their post-dinner hour of rec is over and Danny hot-foots it back to his cell. He's been mentally forcing his dick into submission all day, but as he approaches the cell, it perks up like a horse on the home stretch to the stables. He rips his scrubs off, chucks them over the back of the chair, and pulls on his sleeping clothes, diving into his bunk before Arin can enter and see how ridiculously hard he is. He does arrive a few moments later, and quirks an eyebrow at Dan.

'You're in bed already? Did you run here or something?'

'I'm just...  _super_  tired tonight, man. I've been thinking about this bed all day.'  _Specifically with your wife in it_ he thinks guiltily. Arin shrugs and starts to change.

'Oh fuck man, I meant to tell you what Ross said earlier, he's such-'

'Arin, listen.' Danny cuts him off. 'I really am tired, do you mind if we just-'

'Oh yeah! No, of course. No problem.' Arin says, obviously a little rejected. Danny feels like a scumbag.

Finally, Arin hoists himself into his bed. Danny breathes a sigh of relief, and immediately has his hand wrapped around his dick. He has to bite his lip hard to keep himself from groaning, but  _ah shit_  that feels good. He's been on edge all day, and he has to take it a little slow. He wants to savor this, after all.

He conjures her up in his head. Suzy, splayed over a bed. Beckoning to him. She's naked, all that beautiful pale skin on show for his benefit. She invites him to touch her and he does, skimming his fingers across her belly, kissing up her thigh, nuzzling at her jaw. She wants him to touch her pussy.  _He_  wants to touch her pussy, but he feels almost shy. In his own fantasy. It's like he can't dare to imagine that part of her, in case- what? Arin overhears his fantasy?

'You want some help there, man?'

Speak of the devil.

'Wha- No, dude! I'm fine!' Danny snaps, a little frustrated to have been yanked out of his fantasy so abruptly. Besides, he couldn't bear to have Arin jack him off while he fantasised about his wife. Danny's not exactly Mother Theresa here, but that would be excessive betrayal.

He slams his eyes shut and focuses on getting his fantasy back. Pale skin, soft thighs, Suzy's eyes pleading with him to take her-  _there it is_. He resumes stroking himself, and imagines kissing Suzy. But again, he can't quite dare to reach her lips. He kisses around them, sucks softly at the tendons jumping in her neck, brushes his lips across her cheek, her ear. And his hands cup her breasts, flick at her nipples with his thumbs. He's panting now, and he prays Arin doesn't speak up again. Concentrating hard, he travels downward in his fantasy, kissing down her belly, nipping at her hipbone. The catch of her pubic hair against his stubble as he puts his head between her thighs. And finally, he sees himself open his mouth and lick her. He can feel the wet glide against his tongue, and in a flash, he tastes her; that sharp, sweet taste. It bursts over his tongue and obliterates every other thought from his mind as he jerks and comes all over his hand.

He's fucked up - he hasn't moved the blanket, and his cum is  _everywhere_ , covering his hand, clinging to the blanket, and he can even feel it on the sheet underneath him. But he's too boneless and satiated to care. He takes off his sweatpants, cleans himself up as best he can, and flings them onto the chair in the corner. He'll do an extra load of laundry tomorrow, get some fresh bedding from the prison laundrette. Ignoring the wet patches both above and beneath him, he closes his eyes and lets his exhaustion sink in.

Above him, Arin rolls over.

*

There's still the problem of him having lied to Barry. As much as he's glad to have Barry's approval again, he's complicated things for himself. After all, Suzy did say she was going to send more. If Barry doesn't browbeat Danny into writing Suzy to back off, he'll probably start withholding the letters.

He stares hard at his soiled sweatpants dancing around in the machine with the few clean t-shirts he chucked into the load so it wasn't quite so obvious that this was morning-after laundry and tries to think of a solution. Which isn't easy when Suzy keeps popping into his head unbidden, half-dressed and biting her lip and running her hands over her body. Defeated, he tosses his laundry into the dryer and ducks when he sees Barry pass the laundry room.

*

Opportunity doesn’t knock so much as Dan accidentally barges into it. He’s looking for Arin, when he ducks into a stairwell and is confronted by the hard stares of a group of guys who are shoving  _something_  up their noses. Danny doesn’t want to know, and skedaddles. As he does though, he realises he recognises one of the guys. He always sees him on the mail cart with Barry. A moment later, he sees the burly CO leisurely heading in the direction of the stairwell. He only has a second to put two and two together and make a decision, and he scurries back to the group.

‘There’s a CO coming, you know.’ he tells them. They look at him, look at each other, and hurriedly disperse. Danny takes off after his mailroom guy.

‘Listen dude, I need a favor.’ he mutters when he’s in earshot to the rapidly retreating back.

‘Yeah? And why the fuck you asking me?’ the guy says, without stopping or turning around.

‘I just saved your ass from getting busted. And I need a friend in the mailroom.’ The guy turns, and eyes him closely.

‘You got some shit coming through the mail? Because they monitor us too closely to sneak in contraband anymore, you gotta talk to the crooked CO if you want something sneaked in.’

‘No man, just some letters. Nothing illegal, just… against the rules, you know?’

The guy nods sagely, a grin spreading across his face. ‘Yeah man, I get you. French letters from your girl, right?’ his face hardens for a moment. ‘It is from a girl, right?’

‘Right.’ Dan says quickly. ‘Anything for Dan Avidan, save for me and give it to me later. Only the local stuff, never mind if it’s international. And one other thing; don’t tell Kramer about our arrangement, yeah?’

The guy looks Danny up and down. ‘Why not Kramer? Shit, you getting nasty stuff from his girl or something?’ he asks, his face lighting up.

Dan falters for a moment. ‘Uh. Something like that. We got a deal?’

‘Do I get to read them?’

‘Come on, man. Fine, as long we never talk about you reading them. And don’t tell anyone else what’s in there, I mean it.’

As he speaks, the CO passes by. The guy mutters, ‘Deal.’ and scurries off to a cell block.

*

Turns out his timing was spot-on, because he's delivered another letter from Suzy the very next day.

He takes it into the library, sequestering himself into the non-fiction section. It's fairly quiet in there, and not much activity in that section. He opens his envelope and skims the letter. Even from a rudimentary glance at the contents, he can tell he's about to read an experience. He shifts, trying to get comfortable so he can truly enjoy this.

_I've been imagining you jerk off to what I write. I'd love to hear you gasp for me._

Bam. Zero to 100 in a single line. Danny's not sure if his blood pressure will be able to handle the rest of this letter. He reads on, and is far from disappointed. Suzy is a lot more… dominant than he’d expected, but Dan’s discovering that hey, that kind of works for him. And of every filthy line he's ever read, heard in a porno or had said to him during sex, he's pretty sure  _my pussy's gonna be red raw by the time the next visit happens_  is the one that will stick with him forever.

Still, it does make his whole situation with Arin a little more fraught; as incriminating as the last letter was, there's no way he can justify something this explicit. Arin will never speak to him again. _If he's lucky_. If he's not, he'll still never speak to him again because Arin will get transferred to a max security institution. And also Danny will be dead. Because Arin murdered him.

Unfortunately, prison is not exactly rife with secure hiding spots. Any that do exist are being used to house hard drugs, and Dan wouldn't know where to begin to look for them. So he has to make do with his little book. As the letters roll in every few days, Danny hides them in chronological order, separated with a page. Within three weeks, he's filled almost a whole chapter.

He stops letting Arin sleep in his bed. He can't handle the sickening guilt that rises in him every time Arin tries to kiss him, or starts to paw at his sweatpants. So he pretends to be asleep when Arin murmurs to ask if he's awake, or complains that it's too hot to share a bed. Luckily the weather has begun to turn, so Danny doesn't sound so unreasonable. He can tell Arin's not happy about it though, and is back to spending a lot of his time with Ross, much to Ross' horror.

And he's almost managed to convince himself that he's not a horrible scumbag for getting Suzy's letters. When his mailroom guy comes along, his spark of joyful anticipation has begun to outshine the flame of his burning guilt. They're not all dirty, and Danny actually has the gall to feel like there's something pure about receiving affectionate letters from a married woman without the knowledge of her husband, as long as they don't mention how much she wants to fuck him.

That feeling is obliterated the moment he walks into their trashed cell and he sees his letters scattered across the floor.

'What the fuck.' Dan whispers hoarsely. The blankets have been pulled off the bed, the pillows ripped out of their cases, the mattresses askew. Clothes have been torn out of the little wooden console in the corner, and their books and knick-knacks are strewn all over the floor. Danny's stuck staring at the carnage when Arin appears behind him.

'What the... Fuck!' he exclaims. He stomps into the room, gesturing at the mess.

'I don't know, man. I walked in and it was already like this.' Danny's nervously eyeing the paper littering the floor. There are  _so many_  of them.

'Drug bust.' Arin says, his mouth tight with anger. 'Some asshole tipped off the warden so our cells got flipped.' As he speaks, Danny's suddenly aware of the cursing and furious shouting coming from the neighboring cells. So it wasn't just them.

Arin sighs and stoops to pick up one of the letters. Dan darts forward, his stomach twisting in panic.

'Relax, dude.' Arin says. 'These are mine. I save some of my letters from Suzy.' He unfolds the paper to show Danny.

'Arin.'

Arin reads a line and frowns. Dan watches in horror as Arin scans the page, before his eyes zero in on what must be Danny's name.

'Never mind.' Arin says. 'This isn't mine after all.' 


	7. Chapter Seven

‘Arin. Fuck, man. I can explain.’ Danny’s not aware of the fact he’s backing up defensively until the hip-checks the doorframe of the cell.

Arin looks at him steadily. 'Have you been getting letters from Suzy?’

'I never encouraged it, man. I never even wrote her back, I swear.’

Arin glances back at the page and reads aloud.  _'I imagined fucking you against a wall today and soaked through my panties.’_

Shit. Danny had hoped the letter was one of the less explicit ones. The ones where she’d tell him about her day, or mention the latest gossip around the female prison. But there’s no explaining his way out of _I soaked through my panties._

So he says nothing and waits for Arin to do something.

Arin’s still frowning at the paper. Finally he raises his head, and Dan braces himself for the worst. He has the feeling he’s gonna get paid back tenfold for the punch in the face.

'Why didn’t you tell me?’

Jesus. He just sounds confused. Confused and hurt. It’s so much worse than a fist in the eye.

'What the hell was I supposed to tell you, man?’ Dan replies weakly. 

Arin shrugs, still looking dejected. 'Is this why you’ve been so weird with me lately?’ Danny nods hesitantly.  _Throw a punch_. He thinks pleadingly. _Scream at me_. Anything’s better than the heavy, sick feeling of guilt weighing down his gut.

'I thought you’d gotten sick of me or something.’ Arin says.

'N-no. Dude. I felt guilty. Listen, about Suzy-’

'Whatever you’ve got going on with Suzy, that’s your business.’

'Are… Are you serious?’

Arin shrugs and finally folds up the letter, handing it back to Danny. 'She’s been writing to me

about you for ages. I figured  _something_  was going on.’

'Dude, she’s your wife!’

'I’m married to her.’ Arin corrects. 'She’s not my property. We’re stuck in a human rabbit hutch for the next 13 years; if she wants a little excitement to break up the monotony, I’m not gonna stop her.’

'So… we’re cool?’ Danny asks hesitantly.

'No, we’re not fucking cool.’ Arin snaps, and it’s almost a relief, to hear the sharpness Danny deserves in his voice. 'Suzy sends you letters like this and you don’t give me so much as a heads-up? What the fuck is wrong with you?’

'I’m sorry, Arin. I don’t know what to say.’

'Like I get it, I’ve been in love with her for most of my life. But you’ve met her, what? Six, seven times? We’ve shared a cell for eight fucking months now, and you go behind my back with this shit?’

'I didn’t expect you to be so understanding!’

'Exactly! You thought this would fucking destroy me, that this is the worst betrayal you could pull, and you went ahead and did it anyway!’ Arin throws up his hands in defeat and starts putting his stuff back. 'Like how much do I even mean to you?’ he mutters, quietly enough that Dan nearly misses it. 

'Shit, man.’ Danny crosses to where Arin’s slamming their books back into the console. He slumps against the wall and begins passing stuff to Arin. 'You’re totally right. I’m sorry. I know that’s not enough, but I just want you to know that I am. I got caught up thinking with my dick.’

Arin snorts derisively and snatches his toiletry bag out of Danny’s hands.

'Suzy’s special, you know? I mean, of course you know,’ he adds off Arin’s withering glare. 'I guess I just wanted to experience it. What it’s like to be wanted by someone like that.’

Arin stops what he’s doing and stares hard at Dan. 

'You don’t fucking get it, do you?’ He seems to be waiting for something. Apparently unsatisfied with Dan’s questioning stare, he turns his back and starts putting his bunk back together.

Dan’s starting to think he really doesn’t get it. 

They fix up the cell in silence for a while, Dan searching his brain for some justification for his actions, or something he can do or say to make things better. Until a thought occurs to him.

'You seem more pissed that I cheated on you than Suzy. Like, a lot more.’

Arin clambers up onto his freshly-made bunk. ’ _Suzy_  knew what she was doing. We’ve talked about it a lot, in here and outside. About how marriage is supposed to mean one person for the rest of your life, but why? Does loving someone else mean you love that person less? No, it fucking doesn’t.’

'Arin?’

Arin sighs and runs a hand through his hair. 'Look, Dan. Forget everything I said before, that meeting with Suzy where I said you were just her stand-in or whatever. It’s kinda gone further than that.’

'What are you saying?’ Dan asks quietly.

Arin raises himself up onto his elbow and looks down at him. 'Don’t freak out, I’m not confessing my love for you or anything. I just mean that… I care about you. A lot. More than a friend and more than sex. You’ll never replace Suzy, don’t get me wrong; she’s the love of my life. But you’re not Suzy, you’re Dan, and I need you in here. So if you’re gonna send gross sexual letters to my wife, at least don’t fucking ignore me.’

Dan lets a whoosh of air out through his teeth. 'I’m sorry, dude. I didn’t realise… I didn’t realise you felt like that.’

'Don’t make it gay.’

'Why do you always say that after you pour your heart out to me in the gayest way possible?’

'I may be gay, but at least I’m nowhere near as fucking _oblivious_  as you.’ 

'That’s fair.’ 

'So just so we’re clear, you’re a…  _giant_ asshole.’

Dan nods. 'That’s correct.’

'And I’m the sad idiot who’s been crushing on you like a 14 year old girl because I was dumb enough to think it was reciprocated.’

'That’s… less correct.’

Arin snorts.

'I’m serious, dude! Look, I really liked what we had going before I fucked it all up. I mean it, it was only the guilt thing that’s made me all distant recently, I promise. I’d really like if we could go back to that, but I also realise that I do not deserve that shit at all.’ 

’ _That’s_  correct.’ 

'So…  _now_  are we cool?’ Dan asks hesitantly. 

Arin rolls onto his back and tucks his arms behind his head. 'We’re cool.’ he confirms. Danny breathes a sigh of relief and begins to gather up his letters.

Arin sits up. 'Wait, we might have to read through those, some of them are mine.’

*

He gets one more letter from Suzy before it’s time for the next visit. 

_I can’t believe you didn’t tell Arin about the letters. Dick_.

His stomach plummets for a second, because with his combination of being both attracted to and intimidated by Suzy, the very worst thing he can imagine is her being angry with him. But she follows it up with some pretty standard anecdotes about life on her side of the fence, and the conclusion to a saga that’s been going on for weeks now regarding a mysteriously stolen razor. After countless body searches, it was finally found on a woman who’d taken it not to take out a hit, as had been feared, but to shave her pubic hair. She follows it up with her usual tantalising signature of  _Suzy xoxo_ , and judging by the _PS you have my permission to show this to Arin_  written underneath it, he figures she’s forgiven him his digression. 

Still, he gets a pointed look when she arrives at the next visit. Danny has the good grace to blush and duck his head, and she’s smiling by the time she reaches Arin. 

'How have things been in Casa del Darin? Tense?’ she asks, hooking her arm around Arin’s waist and giving Dan’s hand a squeeze. 

'Darin?’ Arin asks.

'I smushed your names together. Darin.’ she explains. 

'Darin sounds stupid. You should make it… wait, the alternative is Ann.’

'Ann Avihanson, the most fearsome duo in medium security.’ Dan supplies. Arin laughs, his voice ringing throughout the room. Dan grins back at him.

'So I take it you two have made up, then?’ says Suzy. 

'There were a lot of complicated man-feelings to wade through, but we got there in the end.’ 

'Awww, that’s cute!’ Suzy coos.

'Baby,’ Arin protests. 'It’s not cute, it’s profound and masculine.’

'Sure. And have you…’ Suzy winks and raises her eyebrowns suggestively. ’…made up?’

Danny laughs nervously and looks to Arin, he also seems put on the spot by the question. 

'That’s my fault.’ Danny says finally. 'I’ve been pretty dickish to Arin, I felt too guilty to do anything with him.’

Suzy shakes her head disapprovingly. 'What did I say about you being there for Arin? Besides, the only way I’ve been getting through the months in-between visits is imagining you two getting sexy.’ 

'Getting sexy? Suzy, that’s adorable.’ Dan says. 

Suzy leans in towards him and murmurs, 'Not so adorable when I’m knuckle-deep.’ just loud enough for him and Arin to hear. Dan splutters and blushes. 

'Jesus, Suze!’

Suzy smiles sweetly at them. 'I’ve been wanting to see you react like that for like, four months now.’ she laughs. Arin laughs along with her, apparently enjoying Dan’s bemusement. 'So. From now on, full disclosure. We all have to be completely honest with each other, or this isn’t gonna work.’

Dan chuckles hesitantly. 'You make it sound like we’re all in a relationship.’ he says. Arin and Suzy exchange a glance.

'It does, kinda, doesn’t it?’ Arin says. Dan’s stomach does a little flip. Do they really mean…?

There’s some weird husband-wife telepathy shit at play, because the rest of the session seems to be devoted to reassuring Danny of his role in… whatever this is. Suzy sits between them, her thumb stroking against Dan’s hand while her other hand is in Arin’s, their fingers entwined. Their conversation isn’t much different to normal, but beneath the table, Arin’s free hand is curled possessively around Dan’s thigh. And as they lean in to hear Suzy talk, they gradually bunch closer and closer until all three of them are pressed together on the bench with enough space on either side to seat an additional person. 

Danny loses track of the conversation at one point, too focused on the surge of affection he feels for them. He can’t believe that they chose  _him_ , that after two years of feeling like he didn’t connect with anyone in his new home state, like he’d lost one of his only real friends, like maybe he was just destined to be alone, that he’s found not one, but two people who care about him deeply enough to invite him into their marriage. To work around all the various obstacles that prison inherently throws up, for him. He’s a part of something now, and he wouldn’t give up meeting Arin and Suzy if he got a chance to go back and undo everything; the prison sentence, the tax fraud, even moving to California. He’d do it all over again, every single time. And so he clasps Suzy’s hand, and squeezes Arin’s with the other, and tries to convey his gratitude through the touch.

The women are called away all too soon, and Suzy sighs with resignation as she turns to leave. Arin and Danny share a sympathetic look, before Arin gets a sudden twinkle in his eye. Cupping his hand around his mouth, he calls Suzy’s name, and when she turns back, he grabs Dan and pulls him in for a kiss.

It is by far the most brazen display of PDA Danny has ever taken part in. Arin has one hand on his waist, pressing him into his crotch, and one hand wrapped in his hair so he can angle their faces just right. Suzy has full view of Arin absolutely giving his all, nipping and licking at Danny’s mouth until a guard has to come over and physically break them up. Arin laughs and raises his hand in surrender. 

'It was a joke, man, chill!’ he says, with the nineties-est surfer bro voice Dan has ever heard on a real, live-action human being. The guard rolls his eyes, but backs off, and Arin shoots a look in Suzy’s direction. Danny follows his gaze to see Suzy blushing and mouthing thank you through her gigantic grin. 

*

He gets Arin’s full blessing that night. 

It’s a warm night, with the temperature less regulated in the cells than it is in the communal areas. Danny’s already lying with the blankets crumpled at his feet when Arin drops down beside him. Pre-emptively, Danny scoots over to the wall, reaching up to tug Arin down onto the mattress. Arin lies down obediently, arranging himself so that he’s lying on his side, facing Danny with his elbow propping him up. His other hand trails across Danny’s side, rucking up his t-shirt and smoothing across the skin beneath it.

‘She  _really_  likes you, you know.’ Arin murmurs.

Danny laughs shakily. ‘Suzy? Yeah, I can kinda tell.’

‘She wants to fuck you.’ Arin’s hand doesn’t stop, and his voice is expressionless. ‘Would you fuck her?’

Danny gulps. This is dangerous territory now. It’s all well and good getting dirty letters from your cellmate’s wife, but there’s always a chance that he might not be quite as cool with it as she expects him to be. ‘I… I don’t know, man.’

‘You don’t know?’ Arin sounds incredulous. ‘I mean, that’s not an offer; obviously if there was some way of smuggling sexual relations between the prisons, I’d be taking full advantage of that already. But like, if we weren’t in here. If you were just some guy we knew, and we could do whatever we wanted.’

_Whatever we wanted._  It’s not really a concept Danny lets himself think about. For all the danger and meager living Danny’s been through as a result of being in prison, by far the worst aspect has been giving up his freedom. Not just his physical freedom, but _everything_. Having to live to someone else’s schedule like he’s in elementary school, but 24 hours a day. Eating what he’s given. Seeing the same people day after day and getting little privacy from them.

But he has to admit, even without the big fence and the prison guards and all the bureaucracy keeping him in here, he’d probably still choose to spend his days with Arin and Barry and Ross and Suzy if he could. Although he’s going to have to get used to being without them in just under three years. Unless Barry gets his scheduled parole a few months before him and they find somewhere to live together, like they’d talked about.  

‘Yeah.’ he says, while all these thoughts are still swimming around in his brain. ‘Yeah, I would.’

Arin holds his eye for a second, then nods slowly. ‘Good.’ he says, and leans down to kiss Dan firmly.

Just like that, the floodgates are open, and the next few minutes are a desperate mess of groping and mouthing in the darkness, heated skin pressing together and feeling red-hot in the warm California evening. Arin helps Dan out of his t-shirt, and wrestles him onto his stomach, pinning him down to the bed with his full weight. Dan struggles just to feel the resistance, his mind starting to go foggy with arousal. Leaning forward so that his mustache prickles the back of Danny’s neck, Arin begins to whisper to him.

‘Imagine she’s here. Can you see her? Tell me where she is.’

‘What?’ Danny mumbles, utterly distracted by Arin’s hands pressing into the small of his back, and wishing they would go elsewhere.

‘Suzy. Tell me where she is.’ Dan has to close his eyes, struggle to clear his head before he works out what Arin’s telling him to do. A game? He can play.

‘She’s uh, she’s on the chair. Watching us.’

‘Yeah?’ Directly in front of them is the chair Danny’s referring to; a plastic seat with Arin’s day clothes slung over it.

‘And she’s, uh. Wearing a bra and panties. That’s all. Something cute.’

‘Black lace.’ Arin suggests, starting to press soft kisses into Dan’s shoulder blades.

‘Yeah, that’s nice. One of those soft bras, the little triangle ones without the wire in them.’

Arin hums his approval into Danny’s neck. ‘Go on.’

‘She’s playing with herself. Not like, full-on, but stroking over her panties. Playing with her nipples.’

‘Fuck.’ Arin breathes out, grinding his erection into Danny’s ass.

‘She likes that.’ Danny urges. What he means is that he likes that, but he can’t imagine Suzy herself would object in this scenario.

‘She likes watching us?’

‘Yeah. She wrote to me, it was something she said in her letter. How she’d love to watch us if she could.’

‘Let’s give her a show.’ Arin rumbles. He wraps his hand around Danny’s forehead and tilts his head so that they can kiss, Arin snarling into his mouth and nipping at his bottom lip.

Danny attempts to roll over, to face Arin and get his dick free from where it’s throbbing beneath him, but Arin places a hand squarely on the middle of his back and stops him from moving. Dan’s pinned, and while it’s not exactly comfortable, he can’t say he’s entirely unaffected by the hot, heavy weight of the man holding him in place.

With Danny’s change of position thwarted, Arin smooths his hands down his sides, fiddling with the waistband of Dan’s boxers.

'Do you think she’d want to watch me fuck you?’ Arin whispers.

Dan lets out a strangled whimper. He’s this close to letting Arin do whatever the fuck he wants with him, but there’s a small voice in the back of his head screaming that there’s no lube in commissary and that it might actually hurt a shitload. Which is a shame, because were there a single packet of astroglide around, he would be more than happy to let Arin make good on all those jokes he makes about getting into Danny’s asshole.

'I think she would, yeah. I don’t think my ass would thank you for it, though.’

Arin rolls his hips into Danny. 'Do you trust me?’ he growls. Danny nods absent-mindedly, thrusting his own crotch into the mattress, chasing the sweet, maddening friction.

Easing some of the pressure off Dan’s legs, Arin yanks down his boxers, leaving his ass exposed. Dan twitches as Arin shoves his knee between his thighs and forces them open, restricted as they are with the waistband of his lower boxers digging into his flesh.

'Lift your hips.’ Arin murmurs, and uses them to pull him up when he does, tugging him back so that his ass is flush with Arin’s thighs, his face still pressed into the mattress.

'Beg her to let me fuck you.’

'Arin…’ Dan says hesitantly.

'Say it. I’m in charge tonight.’

He did say he trusted Arin. He lets himself ignore that yappy, rational voice in his head, and grabs the edge of the mattress so he can lift his head to address the empty air,

'Suzy, please,  _please_  let Arin fuck me. Please let Arin fucking  _wreck_  me, I want you to see it all.’

'Fuck.’ Arin’s hand is removed from Danny’s hip, and when it’s replaced a moment later, Arin’s cock is free and resting at the small of his back. Danny’s shaking. Is Arin actually going to do it? At the moment, there’s too much adrenaline, he’s too fucking _hard_ to care about consequences, or pain. He just wants Arin to fuck him. And yeah, in a perfect world, Suzy would be there to watch, her fingers working fast in her panties. Or even better, right there on the bed with them. A real bed, not a shitty cramped bunkbed with barely any mattress and so little space that Arin’s hunched over, using one hand to cling to the springs of the mattress above him.

Arin thrusts forward, hard enough that Danny has to scrabble at the edge of the mattress for leverage, finally clinging to the bedframe itself. He’s not inside him though; Arin’s dick is slotted in the crack of Danny’s ass, dragging against the sensitive skin and cushioned between his asscheeks. It’s an interesting sensation, but for someone who has never experienced anal sex in his life, Arin thrusting into that space feels satisfyingly similar to getting pounded into. Just without the burning pain.

He lets the force of Arin’s thrusts propel him forwards as he holds on for dear life. They’re both grunting, and sweating, their skin beginning to chafe at the thighs where they’re rubbing together. Danny ignores it, and focuses instead on the easy slide of Arin’s cock as it leaks precum and makes the channel between his ass slick.

'What’s she doing now?’ Arin grunts out hoarsely. In any other situation, maybe where Arin wasn’t fucking into his ass cheeks, Danny would be too embarrassed to say what he wanted to. But he’s half-gone, and Arin sounds like he’s close.

'Lying with her legs spread open while I eat her pussy.’ he gasps. Arin moans, so drawn-out that for a moment Danny thinks he’s coming. But he keeps thrusting, and asks,

'What’s she taste like?’

'You’d know that better than me, man.’ Dan says, his arms beginning to tremble with exertion.

'Tell me.’

'I-  _ungh_. Like honey.’ He’s never eaten a pussy that tasted like anything but pussy, but he’d half-believe that Suzy tastes different. Something magical and otherwordly.

'Make her come.’ Arin orders, but cuts himself off when he makes a choked-off noise at the back of his throat and comes over Danny’s back. Dan can feel it, hot and spattered up along his spine as Arin rolls off of him and exposes him to the air. He lets himself collapse, rolling over next to Arin, who’s spent and panting and pressed against the wall. He begins to jerk himself off and  _he’s close he’s so, so close_ , when Arin pulls him into his chest, his sticky back and all, and reaches over to finish Dan off himself. Dan shuts his eyes, and Arin sucks a bruise into his shoulder as finally his hips stutter and Arin strokes him through his release.

The bed is  _disgusting_ , soaked with sweat and cum. They barely have the energy to care, but Arin takes off his t-shirt and lazily wipes them both off, before ushering Danny off the bottom bunk and urging him to climb into the top one with him. Danny sleepily complies, and they curl up together, naked and tacky, with their legs entwined and their mouths close enough that they can share lazy, half-conscious kisses before they finally drift off. 

*

‘You  _again_?’ the guy grunts in exasperation, as Holly lets Barry into his cell. Barry rolls his eyes. Spencer, the guy’s name is. Barry knows he hates him, but hey, Barry hates him too. Still, he’s happy to bear the brunt of Spencer’s attitude for one night a week for the sake of Holly. And to a lesser extent, Ross.

‘If you and O’Donovan can’t get along, I’ll have to think about transferring you permanently.’ Holly says sternly, winking at Barry as she walks back to he and Ross’ cell.

‘Huh.’ Spencer says. ‘Interesting how you and O’Donovan only ever seem to get into fights once a week. And only at nights.’

‘Yeah, it’s weird right?’ Barry mutters dismissively, hoisting himself into the top bunk without a glance to his overnight cellmate.

‘And only on her shift.’

Barry says nothing, just pulls the blanket over himself and turns over.

‘It’s almost like it’s on purpose, is what I’m saying.’ Spencer says, who has obviously been sitting on this little revelation since last week and has been itching to gloat about his findings.

Barry sighs. ‘Yeah, what can I say? It’s because there’s nothing I love more than sharing a cell with a rude, smelly asshole.’

‘Watch your fucking mouth Kramer, you’re a guest in my cell.’ Barry rolls his eyes. Spencer’s up for parole in a few months, his threats are all empty ones; he’s not going to gamble his early release on someone as insignificant as Barry. There’s silence for a few minutes, and Barry lets himself dare to think they might be done for the evening, that he can just go to sleep and get the fuck out of there first thing.

‘Do you know why I don’t wash, Kramer?’  _No such luck_. ‘It’s because I want people to stay away from me. And you know what? For nearly seven glorious years, it’s worked. People act like loneliness is the worst thing in the fuckin’ world, but it’s not.  _People_  are the worst thing. _Conversation_. Even the COs don’t fuck with me, and it’s been great. But you, Kramer, you can’t leave me the fuck alone.’

‘That’s a great story, Spencer, but tell you what? The sooner you let me sleep, the sooner we can finish this conversation.’

‘No, ‘cause you know what? You’ll just be back next week. And the week after that, and so on. And I’m fuckin’ angry about it. You and that fuckin’ bitch Conrad are up to something, and it ends tonight. You and I both know I can’t hit you, or stick you, or whatever the fuck I’d normally do to get you the fuck off my back what with the parole hearing coming up, but you’re both gonna pay for this.’

Barry’s starting to get a nervous flutter in his stomach. ‘Just chill out, man. It’s nothing to do with you. You’ll be out soon anyway, what do you care?’

‘There’s a rumor going around. That she’s been fucking one of the inmates on her round.’  _Fuck_. ‘That’s against the law.’ Spencer states. The flutter has been replaced by a sinking dread, and Barry’s sensing that things could go  _very_  wrong here.

‘Yeah well, if she was fucking me, surely I’d get the privilege of not having to share with  _you_.’ Barry says.

‘I didn’t say she was fucking you.’ He knows. He fucking knows. Barry squeezes his eyes shut in the darkness, desperately thinking of how to talk his way out of this.

‘News to me, man. She and O’Donovan hate each other, there’s nothing between them. Ross is- Ross is gay.’

‘ _Bullshit_.’ Things are falling apart. Barry jumps out of bed, landing on the floor next to where Spencer is lying propped up on his back, his eyes glinting.

‘Just be cool, man.’ Barry pleads. ‘I’ll leave you alone man, I swear. I’ll find another cell, don’t worry about it.’

‘No!’ Spencer says sharply. It’s the loudest Barry’s ever heard him raise his voice, and he flinches. ‘That  _bitch_ ,’ he spits the word out. ‘has fucked me over, and tonight she’s gonna pay.’

‘What are you gonna do?’ Barry asks quietly. For a moment, nothing. Spencer stares him down. Then he opens his mouth and  _yells_. His voice rings out in the quiet cellblock.

‘Fuck!’ Barry yelps. ‘Shut up!’

Spencer keeps yelling, his voice shrill and guttural, and rises from his bed. Grabbing a book from the floor, he walks to the bars of the cell and whacks them with the spine of the book. There’s a dull metallic _clang_ , and he keeps striking it over and over. Within seconds, the noise is answered, echoed as dozens of cells join in, stamping and screaming and rattling the bars. There’s nothing Barry can do, and within the minute, the cell is swarmed with night shift COs.

He can only watch dumbly as a few minutes later, a clothed but dishevelled Ross is led out past his cell, with Holly being escorted by another guard behind him. They don’t look up at him; both of their gazes are resolutely set on the floor, and there’s a cacophony of jeering that comes in a wave through each cell as the procession passes. Only Barry and Spencer are silent, Barry staring in mute horror while Spencer goes back to his bed, a small, satisfied smile on his face.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From my tumblr: 
> 
> Holy shit, can you believe it? Because I fucking can’t. This shit has been going on like 2 months now?? And I finished it???
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who has read, who has left notes and comments and nice tags in the reblogs. The only way I have kept motivated this entire time is because of you guys. I find it so hard to write without positive reinforcement, and you guys have been so generous and forthcoming with your lovely comments, which has spurred me on to finish the single longest piece of fiction (or non-fiction, for that matter) that I have ever written. So thank you all, and I hope to keep writing stuff that you guys enjoy.
> 
> Now, let’s do it~

Barry spends a sleepless night trying to work out if he wants to murder Spencer in his sleep. It wouldn’t be super difficult, a pillow over the face would probably do the trick. But Barry has a pretty short sentence, and a first-degree murder charge would probably extend it significantly. **  
**

He finally drifts off, apparently 20 seconds before lights on, because he feels like he’s only just closed his eyes when suddenly the overhead fluorescents are blazing in his face. He stays in his bunk until the gates open, then immediately storms out of Spencer’s cell without a backward glance.   
  
He joins the back of the breakfast line, but has neither the energy or the constitution to stop the men who file in front of him. There’s something about the idea of being sandwiched in the middle of a bunch of people that he just can’t stand this morning. It’s not until he hears the approaching voices of Danny and Arin that he snaps out of whatever haze he’s in. They look remarkably well-rested, those complacent assholes.

Arin glances around the cafeteria. ‘Did Ross come down with you?’

'They took him.’ Barry mumbles dejectedly.

'Barry, jesus. You wanna rephrase that, buddy? You just sounded ominous as fuck.’ Danny says, alarmed.

'The other COs. They found Ross and Holly.’

'Oh, fuck.’ Arin yanks Barry out of the line and leads him to a table, sitting next to him on the bench and leaning in. 'Tell me everything. What happened?’

Barry’s aware of Danny sitting across the table, but he keeps his eyes trained on his knees. 'It was the asshole I bunk with every week. Holly and Ross were having their alone time, and he sicced the other officers on them.’

'Shit, they got caught in the act?’ Arin whispers.

Barry shakes his head. 'I don’t know. I don’t know if they were at the time. They had a minute or so, I guess? Surely they would have heard them coming?’

'Oh shit, Arin.’ Danny says. 'All that noise we heard last night, was that…?’

Barry lifts his head, 'What do I do?’ he asks, his eyes pleading. Arin shrugs, looking a little pale. 

'It’s done, man. Just gotta sit back and see how it plays out.’

'Kramer.’ All three heads swivel to the end of the table, where there’s a harassed-looking CO staring at Barry. 'Come with me. Warden needs to see you.’

'Can’t he get some breakfast first?’ Arin asks. 

'Now.’ the officer replies impatiently, not even glancing at Arin. Barry stands, his legs shaking.

*

'So, let me get this straight. You were bunking with Mike Spencer last night when the incident happened.’

'Yes.’

'Even though you usually bunk with O'Donovan?’ 

'That’s right.’ Barry keeps his eyes trained on the warden, who looks irritated and sleep-deprived.

'So why were you in with Spencer?’

'O'Donovan and I got into an argument.’ Barry says. It was the excuse they’d all decided on, in case people ever asked questions. They’re asking questions now, that’s for sure. 

'Right. But according to Spencer, this was a pretty regular thing. You and O'Donovan arguing, you getting sent to his cell by Officer Conrad.’ 

'That’s right.’ It’s obvious to him that the warden doesn’t believe this for a second, but if Barry can just stick to his guns and keep up the lie, however unconvincing it is, he can get out of there without implicating either Ross or Holly further.

'So why didn’t you just switch cells? Why was it always you who moved, never O'Donovan? And  _why_  was it always on Officer Conrad’s shift?’

Barry shrugs, leaning against the back of the chair and folding his arms like an insolent teenager. 'None of the other COs cared when we got into fights. Conrad was the only one doing her job.’

The warden hums skeptically. 'And the sexual harrassment?’

'I- uh…’ Barry falters. Sexual harrassment?

'Did Ross O'Donovan, at any point during your time sharing a cell with him, interact with you in a way that was sexually inappropriate?’

Barry just stares at him. This is completely out of left field, and he doesn’t know what the right answer is. 

'Kramer. I’ll ask again, did R-’

'Did he say that? Ross?’

The warden sighs, and presses his thumbs into his eye sockets. 'I’m asking  _you_ , Kramer.’

_Shit_. Barry thinks hard. 'It’s just… It’s just I’m worried about what he’d do if I got him into anymore trouble.’ Barry says. With any luck, that should buy him at least more time, if not more answers. 'Like I said, we didn’t really get on.’

'Really. Because according to most of the COs, you and O'Donovan were always hanging around each other at rec. Besides, it was O'Donovan himself who said he was behaving inappropriately. With you  _and_  Officer Conrad.’

For a moment, Barry is completely blindsided. Why would Ross implicate himself like that? What could he possibly gain by… Not him, Barry realises.  _Holly_. Because with Holly as a prison guard and Ross as an inmate, Holly stands to lose more than her job; evidence of willfully engaging in a sexual relationship with an inmate could brand her as a sex offender, he remembers hearing that in the speech they were given when he first arrived. And of course, Ross isn’t going to let that happen. So he’s using Barry as precedence for his behavior, to try and convince them that he’s some sort of sexual predator and Holly’s the victim here. It’s audacious and risky and such a Ross gambit. 

While Barry sits there, the pieces coming together, the warden pulls out a cigarette case and a lighter from his desk drawer. He lights one, takes a drag, then holds it out to Barry.

'No thanks, I don’t smoke.’ he says, still reeling from the new development. The warden insistently thrusts the cigarette at him. Reluctantly, Barry plucks it out of his fingers and takes a puff. He hates smoking. The smoke burns the back of his throat and makes his eyes water. He clears his throat as discreetly as possible and hands it back. 

'I thought you weren’t allowed to smoke in a prison.’ Barry says.

The warden’s face is ashen and drawn as he smokes. 'Kramer, I’ve been up since three in the morning trying to sort out this clusterfuck. My wife’s pregnant - did you know that? And I had to wake her up at stupid o'clock to come in here and try to work out if your boy harassed one of my officers or the other way around, or if they even fucked in the first place.’ 

Barry’s stomach does a little flutter at that - _so they weren’t caught in the act._ That makes things considerably easier. Suddenly his path out of this room looks a lot less treacherous, and he lets the warden keep talking while he formulates his argument. 

'I’ve always liked you, Kramer. You have a decent sense of morality;  you don’t let yourself get caught up with bullshit concepts like 'snitching’ or staying loyal to the same fucks who’d turn you in for half a gram of junk.You face problems like you would on the outside world, and that is why you’ll survive out there when you get out. I’m not gonna see you back in here a month later like most of these other degenerates. So. Did O'Donovan sexually harrass you or Officer Conrad?’

When Barry finally speaks, he knows exactly what to say. Despite the warden’s observations, Barry is absolutely loyal to his friends. Which means he’s not going to let Ross throw himself under a bus, even for Holly’s sake. 'We were friends. Occasionally he’d take a joke too far, or get a little too close, but I wasn’t worried about him. It wasn’t the shit we fought about, you know? As for Conrad, I knew he had a crush on her. I don’t know what happened that night, but as far as I know, he’d never gotten anywhere with her. She’s tough, you know? She knows her limit, she won’t let guys take advantage of it.’

'So nothing happened between them before tonight?’

'Nah. Ross would have told me. Like I said, we were friends.’ Barry says evenly, keeping eye contact with the warden. 'Besides, I was only away from the cell for a couple of minutes before Spencer kicked up a fuss, I don’t think there was time for anything to happen.’ 

The warden seems unenthused by Barry’s testimony, and storms over to the window to take a hard drag and blow it out the cracked sill.

'That’s very different to what Mike Spencer told me.’

'Spencer?’ Barry laughs bitterly. 'Spencer’s had it out for Conrad for ages. He never shut up about her when I was in there. Misplaced rage, I think. Somehow his mother always used to come up in the same rants.’  _Fuck you, asshole_ he thinks. 

The warden shakes his head and flicks his butt. 'Fine. Get out of my office, Kramer.’

Barry stands, and walks out of the warden’s office with as much stoicism as he can manage in his current state. The warden trusts him, that’s certainly clear. Although he may have burnt that bridge today. Still, he hopes that the conflicting information will at least throw him off, and that maybe Holly and Ross can get out of this without either one being branded a sex offender.

*

He spends the next two weeks trying to figure out what’s happened to Ross and Holly. Neither of them have returned to the prison, which is worrying,and the other COs are tight-lipped on the issues. He trades in most of his stamps for tidbits from the other prisoners, and two weeks later, the situation, as he understands it, is this:

\- Ross stuck by his story of forcing himself on Holly

\- Holly refuted it

\- No one had concrete proof that Ross and Holly had done  _anything_

\- Holly had been fired

\- Ross has either been transferred or is in solitary

Barry hopes it’s the latter; Aside from the fact that he genuinely misses his two friends, Dan and Arin have become so wrapped up in each other’s company that Barry feels like he’s third-wheeling a couple of highschoolers. They snicker and whisper to each other, always sitting in a position that allows contact between them, be it their knees touching or their shoulders pressed together. 

Something’s going on there, and in any other situation Barry would give a shit, but he’s worried sick about what’s happened to Ross and Holly. So he devotes his attention to gleaning what information he can from around the prison. 

In the mailroom he notices a letter to Ross in the bag he’s sorting through. Any letters addressed to prisoners in solitary are meant to be handed off to a CO for checking, but Barry immediately grabs it and rips open the envelope. Ross hasn’t had any mail since the incident, and letters from his friends and family in Australia are scarce and sealed in special Air Mail envelopes. So there’s a pretty good chance that the letter he’s holding is from Holly, a suspicion that’s confirmed when he unfolds the paper and sees her name scrawled at the bottom. Placing the letter inside the mailbag so it looks like he’s still sorting, he scans it quickly. 

She hasn’t been fired, she’s been transferred. Only over to the women’s prison, and it’s a relief to know she’s not too far away. And the fact that her letter’s been sent here indicates that, at least to Holly’s knowledge, Ross must still be in this prison. His panic subsides a little, and he tucks the letter into the pants of his scrubs before a CO can catch him with it.

*

Ross makes his return to the prison population a week later. He looks rough as all hell, every minute of his time in solitary showing on his face. He grunts a hello to Barry as he’s let into their cell, then climbs into bed and stays there all morning. Eventually he’s dragged out for lunch, and he picks miserably at the food Barry brought over to him while Dan and Arin try to entice him into conversation. Ross doesn’t talk or eat, and neither does Barry. That sick feeling’s back in his stomach again. Holly may only be a few hundred meters away, but Ross has seven years left on his sentence, and there are no visiting hours for the COs.

Arin and Dan seem to be trying some ham-fisted attempt at Good Cop Bad Cop, with Arin cracking jokes and giving Ross some pretty easy targets for dumb puns, while Dan ever so subtly tries to work him for information about the incident with Holly. Barry glares at them across the table, but they’re too focused on Ross. 

As soon as inmates start leaving the tables to stack their trays, Ross gets up. He leaves his food, and Barry grabs them both, rushing to bus their trays in time to catch up with him, muttering a 'Jackasses.’ to Danny and Arin as he leaves. 

He finds Ross back in the cell, lying in the bunk and facing the wall. Barry stands awkwardly for a few moments, before climbing into his own bunk. It’s only just gone midday, and the sun is hot and bright outside the cell walls, but honestly, Barry feels like being in bed as well. 

He lies there, trying to think of anything to say to Ross. Everything seems too trite, or insensitive, or overly sensitive. Barry’s a great listener, but the flipside is that he’s got shit-all if the other party doesn’t talk first.

Eventually he hears Ross mumble, 'You shoulda just gone with it. Said I came onto you or whatever.’ 

Barry thinks carefully over his words before he answers. 'They would have extended your sentence. I can’t be responsible for that, Ross.’

'I don’t care about me. She could have kept her job.’ Barry’s never heard Ross sound so dejected. It’s a little unnerving, considering how vibrant Ross usually acts.

'She did. They weren’t going to let her stay here either way. You helped her a lot with what you said, but me lying for you only would have made things worse.’

'I’m never going to see her again.’ Ross’ voice sounds flat and watery, but it’s the most emotional Barry’s heard him since he got back. He doesn’t know what to say, how to make things better. 

And then he does, which is to hop off the bunk and go fetch Arin from the cafeteria. 

*

It had been over two years since Arin had cornered a terrified Barry in the corner of their cell. He’d barely been in three days and had already been in a scuffle in the shower room. No harm done, but he’d been severely shaken by the experience, and was on the edge of a breakdown. He’d always been a good kid, well-liked and pretty sheltered. But university had given him a taste of danger, and all the knowledge he needed to chase that danger right at his fingertips. He hadn’t even known there was such a thing as 'Computer Crimes’, but here he was, completely physically and emotionally unequipped to deal with his confinement. The cell door had locked, and Barry was cowering away from his cellmate. Arin had sat down across from him, talking gently to him like he was a startled deer, asking him about his life, his family, until Barry had calmed down and allowed Arin to sit next to him. Gradually, Barry had sagged against him, mentally exhausted from the ordeal of the last few days. Arin had let him, and comforted him while Barry poured out all his fears to him. When he finally had nothing else to say, Arin had led him over to the bunk, and urged him up the ladder to get a good night’s sleep. And he did sleep, for the first time since he’d arrived. The next morning, he woke up feeling like his old self, like he could deal with the next couple of years. He’d barely left Arin’s side since, and Arin had always welcomed his company.

So he lets Arin do the same for Ross, and leans against the door of the cell with Dan to keep lookout while Arin crouches next to the bunk and murmurs softly to him. 

Ross doesn’t exactly look like a new man the next morning, but he’s up for breakfast, and he eats. Barry’s stomach relaxes.

*

'Fuck, Arin.’ Dan groans as Arin’s hand works between their bodies, jacking him slowly while he grinds his dick into Dan’s thigh. Arin says nothing and sucks another bruise into Dan’s neck. The heat of his mouth is ripped from Dan’s skin far too quickly, however, and his hand suddenly stutters to a halt. Danny whines, thrusting into Arin’s hand. Arin shushes him. He whines again.

'Dan, shut up.’ There’s an urgency in Arin’s voice that makes Dan’s ears perk up. He’s still hard to the point of throbbing though, and it’s hard to focus when all the blood that’s supposed to be in his brain has been rerouted. 

'I can’t hear anything.’ he whispers. Arin lifts a hand to quiet him, and cocks his head, eyes on the cell door. Then he’s bolting out of bed and hauling ass into his own bunk. Danny scrambles for the blanket, to cover himself.

'Arin, I still don’t hear-’ 

'Hanson.’ Danny lets out a small yelp as a voice sounds from the door. His head snaps around to see Holly in full guard’s uniform, even down to the hat she never used to wear. His eyes widen, and he stares at her like she’s come back from the dead as Arin drops from his bunk and approaches her. 

'Holly? Holy shit.’ Arin hisses out, reaching an arm through the bars to clap a hand on her shoulder. 'How the fuck did you get in here?’ 

Holly smiles, but there are dark circles under her eyes and she looks exhausted. 'One thing you learn during night shift is that no-one pays that much attention after midnight. Plus, they didn’t deactivate my card properly, or something. I just buzzed in.’

'How have you been? What happened with Ross?’

'Listen, Hanson. I really don’t have that much time. I have a favor to ask.’ She looks sheepish.

Tugging the waistband of his sweats back up around his hips, Danny gets up out of the bunk, joining them by the cell door. 

'What do you need?’

'It’s a big ask, Hanson.’ 

'Tell me.’

Holly sighs, a deep, shuddering breath. 'I want to get Ross out of here. We need money. Suzy said you guys have some account with all the money that was never seized.’

'You’re planning to fucking break him out?’

'Not as hard as you’d think when you actually work here. Or used to. Just expensive. Can’t cut-and-run on a prison officer’s salary.’

'They’ll catch you, Holly. And then you’ll be wearing the other uniform in the women’s prison. They’ll have the whole state out looking for you.’

'That’s where the expenses come in. I’m gonna get him out of the country. I’ve got it all figured out. I just need your help.’ 

Arin runs a hand through his hair. 'Just like that? Seriously, Holly. You’re talking like this is fucking easy.’

'Suzy also said you knew someone.’ Arin cocks an eyebrow at her. 'Who could get us passports.’ she adds.

Arin shakes his head incredulously. 'I can’t believe you’re fucking serious.’

'Well, I am.’ Holly snaps. 'Are you gonna help me or not?’

'How would I even get that sort of money to you? Online banking? Western goddamn Union?’

'Keep your voice down. And… I don’t know.’ Holly sounds like she’s starting to panic, and her hand comes up to grip at the bars. Arin turns away from her and leans against the door, bracing his elbows against his knees and dropping his head while he thinks. Danny looks between them nervously. Finally, Arin lifts his head, his face resolved. 

'How much do you need?’ he asks, straightening up.

'Oh my god, really?’ Holly’s face lights up immediately. 'Um… we need about 4 grand, plus whatever your guy’s gonna charge.’ 

'Double it.’ Arin says. Holly gapes at him. 'Double it and take Suzy.’

Dan feels it like a punch in the gut and has to go back to sit on his bunk. They have a visit with Suzy next week, and he’s barely been able to wait a few weeks. If Suzy flees to wherever-the-fuck with Holly and Ross, there’s a pretty high chance he’ll never see her again. Unless she gets caught. Danny feels like a selfish scumbag for even thinking that, but he’s not sure how he’s supposed to manage the next two and a half years in here without her visits. Let alone fifteen. He’s not sure how Arin can even suggest it. 

'Suzy? Arin, I was just gonna grab Ross and go.’

'It’s a detour; pick her up on the way out. Surely it’s easier breaking her out when you still work there.’

Holly still looks unsure. 

'Look at it this way,’ Arin adds. 'Either you break Suzy out and I give you all the bank details you need and the name of my guy,  _or_  you choose not to and I don’t give you shit. Up to you.’

Holly rolls her eyes. 'If they catch me because I had to go back for your wife-’

'You’d do the same thing, Conrad, don’t pull that shit with me. You got a pen?’

He gestures to Dan to pick up the paperback lying next to the bunk. Danny passes it to him, and taking a pen from Holly, he rips out a blank page from the front and uses the cover of the book to lean against while he scribbles down information. He passes it back to her.

'Thank you.’ Holly says meaningfully, tucking the paper into her breast pocket. Arin reaches through the bars and takes hold of her wrist.

'I’m trusting you to be smart here, and not get caught. Once you’ve got Suzy it’ll be easier, she was always good at that stuff. Ditch the uniforms as soon as possible, change vehicles, yadda yadda. Just… be fucking safe, ok?’

'I will.’

'Tell Ross every single cent of that money better be back in my account by the time I get out. And tell Suze I love her.’ 

'Goodbye, Arin.’ And then she’s gone, and Arin and Dan are alone again.

Danny tries to ignore the fact that Arin didn’t mention him once, didn’t put his name forward for the escape, or for so much as a goodbye to Suzy. The two men stand in silence. Holly was only with them for a few moments, but their whole world has changed since. Without a word, Arin climbs back into his bunk. Dan lays down, pulls his blanket over him, and doesn’t get a wink of sleep. 

*

They’re put on lockdown the next morning. The place is swarming with COs, so Arin and Dan don’t have the opportunity to do what they usually do during lockdown. Dan’s pretty glad. He feels… hurt by what went down last night, and worried for his friends. Sick about Suzy. Truth be told, he hates Arin a little bit for making Holly take Suzy. He wants her out, sure. But he wants her here more. Besides, he reasons, what kind of life is it on the run? Holly didn’t even say where they were going, but it’s got to be remote if they’re hiding out. So he sits in his bunk and sulks and doesn’t talk to Arin. Not that Arin seems particularly fussed. Dan can hear him on the top bunk, biting his nails; the wet sound of his mouth and the dull  _snap_  of his teeth against fingernail is incredibly grating. Every twenty minutes or so Arin hops out of the bunk and paces the cell. Danny doesn’t meet his eye.

*

They’re let out sometime after lunch, and herded straight into the cafeteria for a hastily put-together meal of leftovers followed by an assembly given by the warden. Barry, Dan and Arin sit together, stony-faced as the warden urges anyone with information to come forward. His gaze is directed at Barry several times; Barry stares back. He’s been interrogated all morning. Short of getting a car battery attached to his balls, Barry’s sticking to the story that he was asleep the whole time. He’s feeling cautiously optimistic; he didn’t hold out much hope for Holly and Ross even making it out of the building, but now that they’re several hours away, he feels like they might have a chance. He hopes so. He’s down a cellmate and a sympathetic CO, but the idea of them living together on the outside will keep him going. 

And as several hours turn into several days, the weight on his chest gradually lifts. They were going to hide out in Mexico, according to Holly. Wait for their fake documents to be mocked up, then off to an undisclosed location. She didn’t have time to tell him any more; she had to go set the keys back in the pod before the patrolling CO returned. He’d given a little nod to CO Hughes as he entered the cafeteria; a silent thank you for being lazy enough to leave the door unlocked during the night shift. Hughes just stared at him blankly. 

*

'What the fuck are we doing here, Arin?’ Dan asks, glaring at the floor. Things have been tense between them for the past few days, but Arin browbeat him into the rec room for the women’s prison visit. 

'They haven’t told me she’s gone, therefore we still think she’s inside, _ergo_  as far as we know, she’s still coming to meet us. It’d look suspicious if we didn’t, I haven’t missed a meeting since they started the program.’

'Yeah, well. What are you gonna do now you don’t have these? You’ll have to spend your time with me, old Sloppy Seconds.’ Dan spits out bitterly.

'Wha- Dan, are you seriously pissed that I didn’t get Holly to break you out too?’

'Whatever gave you that idea, Arin? What gave you the idea that maybe I want out, too?’

Arin turns on him, his eyes alight. 'You have two and a half years left in here, Dan. Maybe less. You have a life outside; parents who can support you, employers will probably be sympathetic to an ex-con who was only in for tax fraud, and you have music to pursue if all else fails. Suzy? Has none of it, and eleven more years on top of that. And you know what, Dan? You have me in here, and I have you. Suzy was on her own. Do you know how much we’d see each other in the time we have left? 132 times. That’s 132 hours in  _eleven years_  that Suzy gets to spend with her husband, and with you. At most. So yeah, I let her go. Because if she’s not gonna get to live with me for eleven years, she can at least be free for that time. Sorry you feel hurt by that, or betrayed or whatever, but I’d give 132 hours up for her freedom. I gave up 15 years, and I’d give up more. I’d give it up for you too if I felt you really needed it, but you don’t. So stop sulking and be fucking happy for her.’

Arin looks pissed, but there are tears in his eyes. And Dan’s. But he doesn’t know what to say, and thankfully, the doors open so he doesn’t have to.

He blinks his tears away, staring hard at the stream of women. Even after Arin’s speech, he’s still vainly hoping Suzy will appear.

And somehow, she does. Arin’s only reaction is to look dumbly at Dan as she walks towards them. It’s the only reason Dan’s not sure that he’s imagining her, but he’s not ruling out a shared hallucination just yet. Suzy, however, confirms their reality when she gets close enough to shoot a hand out and pinch Arin’s wrist hard enough that he doubles over.

'You fucking paid Holly to break me out?’ she hisses. She sounds furious, and Dan can’t fathom why. 

'Yes, I fucking did. Why the fuck didn’t you go with her? Ah, fuck!’ he grits out when she pinches him again. A CO looks over, a suspicious frown on his face. Arin waves placatingly at him. 

'How could you do that?  I get to see you and Dan little enough as it is, and you’re trying to get rid of me?’

'Suzy, I wanted to give you a fucking chance to live on the outside, instead of serving out your sentence in this shitty hell-hole. Why didn’t you take it?’ Arin sounds just as pissed. It’s fascinating, and after his ass-reaming from Arin, he can’t help but be a little pleased that he isn’t in the firing line. 

'What, you think I want to spend the next decade of my life hiding? I fucking told you I was going straight once I’d served out my sentence, I’m sick of living underground.’ Dan’s never seen Suzy angry, and it’s kind of impressive. She’s like a tiny ball of energy and rage.

'I don’t want you in here, Suzy. I worry what fifteen years of captivity is gonna do to you.’

'And this is what it all comes back to, isn’t it? Your fucking savior complex. You lied to the goddamn court to give yourself ten extra years just so you could  _look out for me_.’ she says, mockingly. 'When you could have served out your fucking sentence by now and I could be seeing you once a week on regular visiting hours. But no, Arin. This is definitely better. One hour a month, and I get to feel like I’m the reason you’re in here too.’

'Sarcasm, really? And don’t you fucking think for a second that this is your fault,  _I_  lied to the court. I made my decision and I don’t regret it for a second. I’d do fifteen more years if it meant you got out sooner.’

'I didn’t ask you to!’ Suzy explodes, her side of their furiously whispered argument getting loud enough that the guards are starting to notice. Dan raises a finger to his lips, urging her to calm down. She ignores him, but lowers her voice again. 'You know what I would have wanted, Arin? You getting your life back on track.  _Our_  life back on track. To know that when I did finally get out, I had a nice, respectable husband who’d learned to cook, and a house with three bedrooms waiting for me. But you had to play the martyr, and now we’re both stuck here.’

For a moment they stand, glaring at each other. Dan’s not sure if they’re about to rip each other’s throats out. He certainly wouldn’t put it past Suzy, especially with those nails. But the moment passes with a quiver of Arin’s bottom lip, and they both dissolve into a mess of tears and kisses and apologies.

'I’m so sorry baby, I love you.’

'I love you too. You’re right, forgive me. I don’t know what I would have done if you’d gone with them.’

'Inmates!’ There is a very disgruntled CO barrelling towards them. 'Step away from each other.’

Danny steps between Arin and Suzy and the CO, his arms raised in surrender. 'It’s cool man, everything’s cool. They’re just happy to see each other.’

The guard glares at them over Dan’s shoulder. 'You two need to keep your damn hands off each other. No such thing as conjugals anymore.’ he says, pointing in Arin’s face. 

Suzy disentangles herself from Arin’s arms and smiles sweetly. 

'I’m sorry, officer. We’ll be good.’ The CO huffs, and turns to go back to his station against the wall. Suzy watches him, waiting until he’s settled again before she speaks again. 'Look, it’s the three of us from now on. We look after each other, and we make it work on one hour a month.’

'One hour a week, when I get out.’ Danny reminds her. 

'You’re gonna stick around when they let you out?’ Suzy asks, smiling bemusedly. 

'Oh, yeah. Barry wants to stay in Cali when he gets out, and I want to stay with you guys. We figure we’ll find a place nearby, and I can come visit each of you once a week.’

'Wait, that’s not fair. You’ll get to see Suzy more than I do.’ Arin says.

Danny shrugs. 'I can pass on messages and stuff. I’ll take care of her.’ he adds, winking sleazily at Arin, who rewards him with a discreet punch in the arm.

'You might not want to stay with us when you’re back to having options.’ Suzy warns.

'Why the fuck not? You’re the best options I’ve ever had. Plus you come as a package deal, which is twice as awesome.’

Suzy throws a glance at the CO in the corner, then grabs Dan and kisses him ferociously. 

He’s so caught up in the sensation of _finally_  kissing Suzy, feeling the wet slide of her mouth against his, that he barely registers the furious cry of 'Inmates! What did I just say?’ and Arin’s laughter bouncing off the walls.

*  
 **EPILOGUE**

Barry finds a letter addressed to him in the mailbag he’s sorting through. He doesn’t recognise the handwriting, nor the Washington State postage stamp. What he does recognise is the tiny drawing on the corner of the envelope, which he rips open immediately.

Two little birds; one pink, one blue.

He glances around the room to make sure no one’s watching, and immediately begins to read.

_Barry,  
_

_Good news, we made it! We have a house and everything. I can’t tell you where, but it’s somewhere hot and we’re very happy here.  
_

_Even bigger, better news, we’re married! We had the ceremony two days ago as of me writing this. Small turnout, but we like to believe we had a few friends there in spirit. Ross is gonna try animating for the internet again, and expects we should make a decent amount of revenue that way. I, however, am staying realistic, and I’m looking into a small business loan. Also toying with the idea of making props and selling them to film companies overseas, but I have to look up shipping costs. There’s not a whole lot in the way of foam rubber in the place we live, and I have to find out if the costs will outweigh the profit.  
_

_Tell Arin we tried to take Suzy. She wouldn’t go. She almost woke up half the cellblock resisting, so I had to get out of there. Hopefully he’s not too pissed off. If he isn’t, please also tell him that there’s no way he’s getting my DS now, because there’s shit-all to do here and Animal Crossing is about the only thing keeping me sane. I can almost pretend I live in Animal Crossing. I won’t tell you which stage, in case one of the staff get hold of this and passes it onto the authorities, but it’s very picturesque.  
_

_Finally, I just wanted to thank you, Barry. For what you did. I can’t tell you how grateful we both are for letting us do what you did (trying not to be too specific here, I don’t want to get you in trouble. But you know what you did, and we love you for it) We’ll keep an eye on your parole when it comes up, and we’ll work out a way to stay in touch when you do get out.  
_

_Until then, know that we’re happy, and grateful, and married! And we miss you. Ross says he misses the way you didn’t kick him in his sleep when he snored most of all. Personally I don’t know how you put up with it.  
_

_Lots and lots (and lots) of love,  
_

_Holly xx_

_and Ross_


End file.
